Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
September 2002

Dear Miami Valley RailTrails List Readers - 24 Sept  2002 and this newsletter is late. I started writing this on Sunday 9/22/02 but we had a small, intermittent power outage and I lost all of the work I had done on this page. Today 9/24/02 I at attempting to replicate the page that I lost on Sunday

• Creekside Trail - I've added new pictures on this page. As you remember from last month, I told you that I thought that Five Rivers MetroParks had changed the name of the trail that starts near I-675 /US-35 intersection in Beaver creek at the Greene/Montgomery County line from Creekside Trail to Mad River Recreation Trail. I am told that this is not true except that every trail in Montgomery has had its name changed. So the Creekside Trail in Montgomery County is now called  the Creekside Recreation Trail.  If you look at the new picture on the Creekside Trail as it crosses the county line into Montgomery County you can make up your own mind what the sign says. I've asked Five Rivers MetroParks to consider revising the sign. 

• Creekside Recreation Trail - I've added new pictures that show the new safer way to cross the intersection of Springfield Street and Smithville Road on the trail just outside Eastwood MetroPark. Before you had to cross Springfield Street and ride up Smithville Road about 200 yards until you got to the start of the trail again. Five Rivers Metroparks has build a small trail spur that parallels Smithville Road all to the way to where you cross Smithville Road to get to the trail. Take a look at the new pictures and descriptions. 
  
  

• Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) - This trail has added about a mile of new trail and connected the trail from the Huber Heights Soccer Fields south to Rip Rap Road near Birch Drive. I've added a number of new pictures to this web page. Please take a look. The entire trail is now 5.6 miles long and is a nice ride. The trail extends to near the corner of Birch Road and Rip Rap Road. In the future the trail will follow the river parallel to Birch Road and cross under Needmore Road at the Polish County Club on its way downtown to merge with the Great Miami River Recreation Trail. 
  
  

• About Bicycle Trail Names - I've added a new page to try to end the confusion about changing trail names. I am also in the process of changing trail names to the new, correct trail name. If you see an old trail name on a page, it's because I haven't updated that page. 

New Trail Construction -Here I get to tell you about what trails are being built for your cycling (walking, running and rollerblading pleasure)

• Miami County Trails -  The group working to build a trail North from Taylorsville MetroPark Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Northern Segment) through Tipp City, Troy and Piqua to Sidney Ohio received a donation of land from Martin Marietta Aggregates in Concord township along the proposed right of way. The trail is planned to follow the route of the old Miami-Erie Canal.  The trail when complete to Shelby County will be over 20 miles long. 
  
  

• Piqua Linear Park  construction continues. Piqua has expanded the Linear Park North 2.2 miles starting at French Park and running through Frantz Pond, Fountain Park and Echo Lake and ending in Swift Run Lake off State Route 66 near the water plant.
  
  

• Miami-2-Maimi Trail meeting was held. A meeting was held in Monroe County on September 19th. to discuss the planned route of the trail to be built East to West from the Little Miami Scenic Trail to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail. The trail, when built, would connect to the Little Miami Scenic Trail East of Lebanon. The trail would run West through Lebanon, Mason and  Deerfield township in Monroe County and Fairfield and Hamilton in Butler County. At Hamilton the proposed trail will connect with the new trail extension being built South from Montgomery County's,  Crains Run MetroPark. The new trail South from Dayton is called The Great Connection and is being developed by the Miami Conservancy District. 
  
  

Other News  This is other news in the area that affects trail use. 

• Jamestown Connector receives funding. Greene County Parks and Recreation received a $420,000 from the Clean Ohio Trails Fund. This money will allow Greene County to start building the bridges and culverts that the trail will need to run from Xenia Station Southeast to Jamestown, Ohio. Eventually the trail is planned to be connected with the Tri County Triangle Trail at Washington Courthouse, Ohio. The cost for the construction of the entire trail is estimated to be $4 million. Greene County Parks and Recreation hopes to have this trail completed to Jamestown in 5 years. 
  
  

• Wesleyan Corridor trail receives funding. Five Rivers MetroParks also received $215,000 from the same fund, to build a 1,650 foot trail and 165 foot bridge that will connect Wesleyan MetroPark to Adventure Central and the Mcgee Bikeway. What this is a part of is to connect the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail to downtown. Currently the trail starts at Englewood and runs Northwest through Brookville to Verona. When completed the trail will continue South East to connect with downtown Dayton and the Great Miami River Recreation Trail . 
  
  

• Piqua Linear Park gets additional funding. The same fund provided $350,000 to Piqua to extend the Linear Park 4.5 miles along the Miami and Erie Canal towpath and on Miami Conservancy District's land to complete a 13 mile loop and connect to Johnston Farm, a historical museum in the area. 
  
  

• Greenville Creek Trail . Greenville received $180,000 from the same fund to build one mile of trail along Greenville Creek from Alice Bish Park to Greenville City Park. It has been planned for some time that the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail would be built from its current end at Verona, Ohio Northwest to Greenville. I believe that Greenville Creek Trail may be a part of this trail expansion. 
  
  

• New Trail Numbering System in Ohio -  Some time ago I got a new trail name from Five Rivers MetroParks. They and the Miami Conservancy put on a new document that has a map for every trail in Montgomery County. They had State Trail Numbers on their trails. When I asked where the new numbering system came from the told me that the numbering system was a proposal from Mr. Shawn E. Richardson PO Box 612, Worthington, Ohio 43085. Some of you may know Shawn from his books about RailTrails in several states including Ohio. If you haven't looked at (and/or bought) his "Biking Ohio's Rail-Trails"  I recommend you do so. In any case Montgomery County has decided to start the ball rolling by putting Shawn's statewide trail numbers on their trails. I think his proposal is a rational one, I have put them on this website. More to follow. But in the future instead of using a long, cumbersome and ever changing trail name I may start using trail numbers in my descriptions. 

Well. That's about all for September 2002. 

If this bicycle trail newsletter provides you with information you can use pass it on to a friend. Anyone can become a  member of my mailing list by going to my website at Join Our Mailing List and following the instructions you'll find there. You'll also see my recent articles in case you missed one. All of my articles are available on the Join Our Mailing List page on the website. 


Tom Recktenwalt
Miami Valley Rail Trails
http://www.miamivalleytrails.org