Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter November 2010

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
November 2010

Dear Friends: It’s Monday 15 November 2010 and I have some trail news for you. Please read on for news of the Miami Valley.

Trail Construction and Improvements.	Website Changes and Improvements
Photos & Information Wanted Section	Did You Know Department
Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events	Webpage of the Month

Trail Construction and Improvements

New Trailhead on Prairie Grass Trail Dedicated – The Roberts Pass trailhead was dedicated 28 October, 2010 just East of Maple Street where the trail starts again in London. Click Here or above for a link to an article on the subject. Click Here to see sketches of plans that the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails (FMCPT) are proposing for the future of the area.
Construction Progress on Prairie Grass Trail East of London - The groundwork appears to be complete from Lilly Chapel to the west side of Olmstead Rd. From Olmstead Rd. east to the Darby Creek, the trail is paved. No work completion East of the Darby Creek or West of Lilly Chapel towards Wilson Rd. This paving was accomplished in October 2010. Click Here or above to see a Metro Parks E-Newspaper article on the construction in the area. One of Tom's Spies will be providing photos of the new construction to me in a week or two. When that happens I'll add them and descriptions of the new trail at the bottom of my Prairie Grass Trail London East to Trail's End At Wilson Road page.
Ohio River Trail Progress
- Don Burrell of OKI reports the following: " Two sections of the Ohio River Trail are currently under construction. The City of Cincinnati is working on a connection from Lunken Airport near the terminal to Riverview Academy. The trail will follow a former rail spur from Wilmer Ave to Carrel St where it will go south to cross Kellogg Ave. where it will continue as a sidepath to the school. There it will connect with the existing trail to Schmidt Field.
- Anderson Township is building a section along the north side of Kellogg Ave between Sutton Rd (Three Mile Rd) and Five Mile Rd. This passes Coney Island and River Downs and will have a connection to Kellogg Park. Part of this trail will use a greenspace corridor acquired with funds from a Township levy for greenspace, sidewalks and trails. Both sections are part of the Ohio River Trail Plan coordinated by OKI in 2000." (Thanks Don

Website Changes and Improvements

Piqua's P.A.T.H. Page Updated - I have added links to the additional trail sections marked on rural roads to the East and West of the Piqua Activities Trail For Health (P.A.T.H.). To the West I have an Adobe Acrobat map and to the East I have turn by turn directions. We will be getting a map to show you how to cycling from the East end of the PATH to Urbana.
New Bradford to Gettysburg Section webpage - I have added a new page to show you the completed trail from Bradford West 1.8 miles to Gettysburg.
Milford to Lunken Airport Page Updated - I have updated the information on the extension of the Little Miami Scenic Trail from its current end at the Little Miami Golf Center on Newtown Road to Lunken Airport. This will take place sometime after 2013. Connecting to downtown Cincinnati from Lunken Airport is the planned Ohio River Trail that will follow the Oasis railbed and end at Sawyer's Point in downtown Cincinnati and take the trail across the Ohio River on the Purple People Bridge to Kentucky.
New Urbana to Piqua trail page - I have added a new page to show the turn by turn directions to get from Urbana across Champaign County to the East end of Piqua's P.A.T.H. Trail. I understand that a new map is being developed to show you this temporary road route until a formal trail can be built.
Piqua West to Covington and Bradford Trail - (AKA Ohio to Indiana Trail) – I recently drove (by car) the route of the “Temporary Recreational Trail Path” from the West end of Piqua’s P.A.T.H. to Covington and Bradford. Then I continued West to Gettysburg to see the new section of trail from Gettysburg East almost to Bradford. It was a sunny but cold November day. I took pictures and added a few of them to the new webpages mentioned above.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

As most of you know the Stillwater River Recreation Tail is broken into two trail segments as follows:
- Stillwater River Recreation Trail (South)- Starts at Island Park in downtown Dayton and runs North for 3.8 miles to Sinclair Park in Harrison Township on the Wright Brothers Parkway
- Then there is about a five mile gap between it and,
- Stillwater River Recreation Trail (North) - Starts at Jake Grossnickel Park in Clayton and runs about 2 miles from the park which is behind Good Samaritan North 9000 N. Main Street) through Englewood MetroPark.
- Last month I asked for help in building an on-road route to fill in the 5 mile (Approx.) on-streets. I have two of Tom’s Spies working on it and hope to have a new webpage up for your viewing pleasure by Christmas.

Did you Know Department?

Clark County Park District Closes Trails - Because of a failed park’s levy the Board of Clark County Park Commissioners voted to close the parks in Clark County under their jurisdiction. Of more importance to us, they also voted to close two trails in the County. They are:
Little Miami Scenic Trail from Yellow Springs to Springfield
Prairie Grass Trail in Clark County
National Trail Parks and Recreation manages the following two trails. I understand that they will not be affected
Simon Kenton Trail in Springfield
Buck Creek Trail
What the Park’s Department means by “closing the trails” is yet to be seen.
You can help. If you can attend the Clark County Park District meeting on Monday Dec 6th, at 6:30pm at the Davidson Interpretive Center on Lower Valley Pike. We need to show these guys that the trail system should not be closed
See Google Earth Maps to see the location of the Center and how to get there. See also the Dayton Daily News article 11/13/10 “County parks, bike paths to close indefinitely” We cannot stand aside and let one county close access to a multi-county trails system that was built in part with federal funds. Your attendance at the meeting would help.
Sign the Petition to AAA! - The American Automobile Association (AAA) recently advocated for the elimination of critical, established programs that fund trails, walking and bicycling from the trust fund that finances transportation. AAA says it supports all types of transportation, but that doesn't square with the above position, which would divert money away from walking and bicycling and toward the highway system. The Rails-To Trails Conservancy has started to circulate a petition to send to AAA to ask them to stop opposing bike trails. Click on the link above or Click Here to read all about it and sign the petition. I highly recommend to all my friends that we show support for RTC standing up to AAA. |
New Northern Kentucky Bike Guide Map Now Available (6.4Mb) - The Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky Council of Government's (OKI) has just released a new bike map to show you the routes in Northern Kentucky. You can also download the new Cincinnati Bike Route Guide (3.5Mb). Thank You OKI

Announcements of Upcoming Events

See Upcoming Events Area

Bicycling Events are about over for this year. Please let me know early next year (2011) about events you'd like publicized on this website.

Webpage of the Month

Every month in this portion of my newsletter, I link to one webpage (or the beginning page of a group of webpages that refer to one trail) in this space. I do this so that my readers, who may not have ever seen that webpage get an opportunity to find it (and perhaps find some use of it).

Bradford to Gettysburg Trail Page ( a Part of the Ohio To Indiana Trail) - This is the new 1.8 mile section of the planned trail from Urbana (Champaign County) through Miami County and Darke County and ending in Randolph County Indiana connecting to the Cardinal Greenway.

Regards to all,

Thomas J. Recktenwalt
Webmaster
Miami Valley RailTrails
http://www.miamivalleytrails.org

If you find these newsletters and my Miami Valley RailTrails website of use to you, please pass the information on to your friends and neighbors who might enjoy our Miami Valley Trails System, the wonderful system of multi-use trails in Southwest Ohio. Then they can write me and get on the mailing list to get their own copy of this newsletter. Our trail system is wonderful for walking, running, in-line skating, birding, fishing and cycling and on some trails horseback riding. You see more wildlife from one of our trails than most anyplace else. All of my newsletters are posted to my website at the same time I send you this text version. The URL for your use is: http://www.miamivalleytrails.org/join_our_mailing_list.htm

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