Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter October 2010

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
October 2010

Dear Friends: It’s Friday 15 October 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

Change in Trail Route Numbers - As most of you know the trails in Southwest Ohio have “Ohio Route Numbers” on them. The numbering scheme came from Mr. Sean Richardson of Columbus, Ohio He has also written books about the trails in Ohio. Earlier this year the Ohio To Erie Trail folks (these are the people working to build a trail from Cincinnati through Columbus and ending in Cleveland), asked the county parks departments and Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) to consider allowing them to have Ohio Route #1 as their route number throughout the Miami Valley. In order to do this, several route numbers will have to be changed on the trails and on the new trails map which should be available Spring 2011. I am not going to change the route numbers that I have on the webpages of this website until the changes are formally approved. I have to make a LOT of changes, and I'm only going to do it once. Changes are as follows:
- Ohio Route #1 - Ohio to Erie Trail (AKA Little Miami Scenic Trail) and Prairie Grass Trail as follows. Little Miami Scenic Trail North from Little Miami Golf Center to Xenia Station. Then Prairie Grass Trail Northeast from Xenia Station to Wilson Road, East of London.
- Ohio Route #3 - Little Miami Scenic Trail - North of Xenia Station to Heritage Center in Springfield and Simon Kenton Trail from Heritage Center to Urbana.
- Ohio Route #4 - Xenia-Jamestown Connector. Xenia to Fayette County line (eventually to Washington Court House) .
The current routes and numbering are on my About Multi-Use Trail Names and Route Numbers page. I will be making changes to this page and to all of the trail pages that point to it when the changes are made. Then this website, the new MVRPC (Miami Valley Recreational Trails Map) and the trails will all be in synch.
Construction Progress on London Trailhead East of Maple Street - The Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails have almost completed the new trailhead East of Wilson Road. I've added a couple of new pictures of it to the webpage with descriptions. They are also planning more improvements in the area that I will tell you about soon.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (North of Triangle Park) has Re-opened) - The new I-75 bridge across the Great Miami River North of Triangle Park, is finally finished. I have removed all of the detour information and replaced it with a few new pictures of the newly opened trail. The trail is now open from downtown Dayton to Taylorsville MetroPark. By next year it will be connected to the trails in Miami County.
City of Riverside approves extension of Mad River Recreation Trail – Recently the City Council of Riverside approved Five Rivers MetroParks' final alignment of the extension of the Mad River Recreation Trail. The extension will start at the current end of trail at the parking lot in Eastwood MetroPark. The trail will run East through the park, go under Harshman Road at the Mad River Bridge, go under the Norfolk Southern tracks, then run alongside Springfield Street, past the U.S. Air Force Museum and finally connect with Huffman MetroPark and the beginning of the Wright Brothers Bikeway alongside Kaufmann Avenue into Fairborn. The construction will start (and perhaps be done) in 2011. When I talked to my Five Rivers MetroParks source recently I said: “I thought the trail was going to be built this year (2010)”. He replied: “I thought it was going to be built last year (2009”. Which shows that sometimes it is more difficult to build a trail.

Website Changes and Improvements

New Trailhead on Prairie Grass Trail East of London – Last month I told you about the planned construction of a new trailhead East of Maple Street in London on the Prairie Grass Trail (AKA Ohio To Erie Trail). I was told recently that it is almost done. I have added to the webpage two new pictures of the construction. The Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, who are building the trailhead, plan to have a small ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 28th at 3 pm at the new trailhead.
Trail Now Open on Great Miami River Recreation Trail North of Triangle Park – As a lot of you know riding the trails in downtown Dayton has, for the past couple of years, been a “challenge.” There has been a lot of construction on I-75 that has closed several trails. The Great Miami River Recreation Trail North of Triangle Park that runs to Taylorsville MetroPark is one example. It was closed for about 2 years just North of the Keowee Street bridge where I-75 crosses the river. ODOT built a new bridge across the Great Miami. But as of a couple of weeks ago the trail is now open.
Hotels, Motels, B&Bs and Campgrounds Page Being Revised - Very recently a reader told me: The links are down on your Hotels Page. I looked at the page and found that all of the links that used Yahoo Yellow Pages were broken. I did some research and found that Yahoo had taken down the function and replaced it Yahoo Local. Here is a Link to Yahoo Local for Dayton, OH. So I am in process of checking each link on the page (there are LOTS of them) to see if they are correct. This will take some days.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

Photos and descriptions of Stillwater River Recreation Trail Gap Wanted – As many of you know the Stillwater River Recreation Trail (South starts in downtown Dayton at Island MetroPark and runs North for 3.8 miles to Sinclair Park in Harrison Township on Wright Brothers Parkway. There the trail ends. There is about a 5 mile break (Or Gap) in the trail from Sinclair Park to Jake Grossnickel Park in Clayton. The trail starts again as the Stillwater River Recreation Trail (North) and runs about 2 miles from Jake Grossnickle Park (which is behind Good Samaritan North 9000 N. Main Street) through Englewood MetroPark.

I would like a street route (with pictures and captions if possible) from one of my readers to show the turn by turn route from Sinclair Park North to Jake Grossnickle Park. The five mile route looks like Shoup Mill Road from the Park East to Frederick Park. Then (from what Google Earth tells me) the route should go north on Frederick Park to Meeker Road. Turning left onto Meeker the route should continue West and then North to Heathcliff Road. The route looks to turn left on Heathcliff and enter Jake Grossnickle Park for a total of about 5 miles. Please note: This may not be a suitable right-of-way. Only someone who has ridden the route can tell me that. Google Maps can’t tell me what the traffic and riding conditions are. So I am asking one of you who has ridden from Grossnickle to Sinclair Parks to give me details. I will give you complete credit on the website for anything I use.

Five Rivers MetroParks tried to build this trail section a number of years ago. But at that time, they were unable to obtain a suitable right-of-way. I hope in the future that this gap in the trail is filled. In Miami County, long range plans are being made to extend the trail from Englewood MetroPark to West Milton and Ludlow Falls.

Did you Know Department?

Nothing this month.

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).

Simon Kenton Trail - It's been a while since I recommended the Simon Kenton Trail to you. So this month, it's the Webpage of the Month. The trail runs North from Springfield, at the Heritage Center almost 18 miles and ends at the Urbana YMCA. Plans are being made to extend the trail North (in stages) to reach Bellefontaine, (the County Seat of Logan County). For more information see my September 2010 newsletter.

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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