Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
April 2003

Dear Miami Valley RailTrails List Readers - 22 April 2003 Happy Easter

Happy Easter! By now some of you have already started riding your bicycles or using our trails in other ways such as rollerblading, running and walking. I noticed that the dandelions bloomed on the Creekside Trail last week and most of the trees have turned green!

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

• New RiverScape Bridge to Deeds Point - Following from last month's newsletter. I saw an article in the Dayton Daily News, which showed the bridge from RiverScape to Deed's Point in downtown Dayton being built. The picture showed the truck crane lifting the spans into place. This new bridge, when completed will allow you to ride from the trail on the East bank of the Great Miami River where the Mad River Trail ends to the East bank of the trail going North to Island MetroPark and from there across the Great Miami River to Triangle Park north via the Stillwater River Recreation Trail to Wegerzyn MetroPark.
  
  

• New Trail Dedication in Miami County  - I am told that progress is being made on building trails in Miami County. The folks there will have a dedication of a portion of the Miami County Recreational Trail Bikeway at Dye Mill Road in Concord Township on Thursday 12 June 2003 at 11:00 AM. For more information call, 339-2637. The dedication is on the Towpath at Lock 13. The Miami County folks are using, where possible, the old Towpath of the canal that ran from Cincinnati through Dayton to Toledo. Please see my "Trails in Miami County" webpage for some information about the other trails being built in Miami County. Eventually the trail will start at Taylorsville MetroPark in Montgomery County and run through Tipp City, Troy and Sidney in Miami County.
  
  

• "Purple People Bridge" dedicated in Cincinnati -  Speaking of construction and dedications our friends in Ohio and  Kentucky  will be dedicating the L&N (purple) railroad / highway bridge into a pedestrian / bikeway bridge on Saturday April 26, 2003 Yes, the bridge is really purple. The official name of the bridge is the "Newport Southbank Bridge" but it is already being called the "Purple People Bridge!" They say; "We painted it that color because it is less likely to fade over time." Yeah! 

• The first event will be the "Susan B. Koman Race for The Cure" - a fundraiser for breast cancer research at 8:00 AM followed by a bike race. The Dedication of the Purple People Bridge will be at noon on the Ohio side and then there will be another ceremony on the Kentucky side of the bridge. This bridge has been open for some time for walking and cycling but now will be officially dedicated. OKI as well as the Ohio and Kentucky governments should be highly commended for this action. By saving the L&N bridge for pedestrian / cycle use they have spanned the Ohio River and made it possible for trail users to get to Kentucky! 
  
  

• Little Miami Scenic Trail being extended South - The previous information leads us to the construction starting to connect the Little Miami Scenic Trail to Cincinnati. The end of the trail has been at Milford for some years. Finally work is beginning to construct the trail south from Milford to Lunken Airport. Work is being done at Dry Creek Run. Two bridges are being built that will link Avoca Park to the Little Miami Golf Center. The bridges will span Dry creek Run and the Little Miami River at U.S. 50 and Newtown Road. The trail is expected to be open to Clear Creek Park in Anderson Township by 2005. The Hamilton County Park District has not acquired all of the land necessary to get from Clear Creek Park to Lunken Airport so a scheduled date cannot be forecast.  After the trail reaches Lunken Airport the trail will have to be built South from there to the Ohio River and Cincinnati. 
  

Well. That's about all for April 2003. As you can see from above construction is starting on several trails. Keep in touch to learn about the wonderful things happening to our trail system.  

Oh, by the way. I noticed on the MSN web page that I use to mail these emails to you that a lot of you are having your emails from me not delivered to your home mailbox. The way that works is you have to go to the website to see if I have sent out a monthly newsletter. It might be easier for you if you go up to the website and change your preferences to having these emails delivered directly to your home mailbox. That way you don’t have to look for these emails; they are sent direct to whatever email address you specify.

If you find these newsletters and my Miami Valley RailTrails website of use to you, pass the information on to your friends and neighbors who might enjoy our wonderful system of multi-use trails in SouthWest Ohio. They are wonderful for walking, running, bladeing, birding and cycling. You see more wildlife from one of our trails. 
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 

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