Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter October 2006

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
October 2006

It’s Sunday 22 October 2006. It's Fall and the leaves for those of you still riding the trails are beautiful. Here is the news about trails in the Miami Valley. Please read on.

Trail Construction and Improvements.	Website Changes and Improvements
Photos Wanted Section	Did You Know Department
Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events

Trail Construction and Improvements

Governor Announces $6.95 Million in Clean Ohio Trails Grants - These funds are for new trail developments. The $6.95 million was for all of Ohio. The Miami Valley received $1.981 Million or 28.5% of that total amount! I have been updating my Approved Multi-Use Trail Projects and have details about every trail project in the Miami Valley that was funded. Briefly the towns and trail benefiting from this new funding are:
- The City of Xenia received $431K to continue development of the Xenia Jamestown Connector in the City of Xenia.
- Greene County Parks received $350K to continue development of the Xenia-Jamestown Connector East of Jamestown working to connect with Washington Courthouse in Fayette County.
- The City of Piqua got $400K to continue development of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Miami County) – These funds will help build Section 6 from Piqua (Lock 9 Park) South to Peterson Road, about 2 miles.
- The City of Centerville received $200K to build about 2 miles of the Iron Horse Trail from Iron Horse Park in Centerville to the City of Kettering border.
- Madison County Parks District received $210K to continue the development of the Prairie Grass Trail East of London. They are working to carry the trail to Franklin County so that connectivity to Columbus will be possible.
- The City of Middletown got $390K to continue development of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Butler & Hamilton County). These funds will build 2.2 miles of trail from Middletown North about half way to Franklin. See my Approved Multi-Use. See my Approved Multi-Use Trails Projects page for detailed information on all of these and other grants.
Greene County Parks Starts Construction of the “T-Connector” - Greene County Parks awarded a $1.7M contract to develop the link from Huffman MetroPark to the Wright Brothers Memorial and the Wright Brothers Bikeway. The 1,400 foot tunnel under State Route 444 and bridge over the Norfolk & Southern railroad tracks started 8 October 2006 and is planned to be completed by July 2007. See the Dayton Daily News article from 7 October 2006 titled “Work to begin to link Dayton, Fairborn via key bikeway” – by Ken McCall – Staff Writer. Once Five Rivers MetroParks is able to purchase the right of way from Eastwood MetroPark to Huffman MetroPark the city of Fairborn will be connected to the Miami Valley Trails System.
- Three Counties Trail - Five Rivers MetroParks is still negotiating with Norfolk & Southern Railway to purchase land alongside their right of way from Eastwood MetroPark to Huffman MetroPark a distance of about three miles. When this land is purchased Five Rivers will be able to extend the Mad River Recreation Bikeway to Huffman MetroPark and connect to the "T-Connector.
Trail Dedication in Franklin 28 October – The Miami Conservancy District will dedicate another section of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Butler & Hamilton) Counties on Saturday 28 October 2006 at 11 AM. The dedication will be at the historical post office at the corner of Fifth and River streets in Franklin. This 3.7 mile section of trail runs Crains Run Nature Park in Montgomery County to Franklin, Ohio.

Website Changes and Improvements

Approved Multi-Use Trail Projects Updated – I have added all of the October 2006 Clean Ohio Grants to the page with descriptions as well as funding for trails in Clark County. I will be adding information about trails in Butler, Clermont, Hamilton & Warren counties funded by OKI. The idea for the page is to have all of the funds information for all the trails in the Miami Valley in one place.

Photos Wanted Section

Nothing new at this time. See my August 2006 Newsletter for needed photos.

Did You Know Department

Adventure Cycling Magazine Here on Photo Shoot - Noted sports photographer and travel writer, Mr. Dennis Coello was in Xenia Saturday photographing the Little Miami Scenic Trail for an article on the Underground Railway Route (UGGR) . The UGGR as it is called is one of many routes that slaves from the South used to escape slavery. Adventure Cycling Magazine has designated the Little Miami Scenic Trail as a part of the route. Mr. Coello was photographing the route and models from the area for the magazine's article on the Underground Railway Bicycle Route to be published in the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of the magazine. Models included Mr. Jock Harris a senior majoring in education (Mathematics) at Central State University, Mr. Chuck Smith a logistician employed by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Chair of the Ohio Bicycle Federation. Last but not least was your webmaster; myself. I will be publishing several images from the photo shoot in a later newsletter.

Announcements of Upcoming Cycling Events
(Also See Events Page )

Nothing new this month. Cycling events are about over for the season.

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 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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