Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter March 2003

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
March 2003

Dear Miami Valley RailTrails List Readers - 25 March 2003 Happy Spring!

It’s Spring! It’s time to get the bicycles out and tuned up for use. I’m sure some of you have already started to ride. Some of my readers ride through the Winter but I put away the bicycles in the Fall and run on the Creekside Trail through the Winter.

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

New Bridge to Deeds Point (downtown Dayton) I was downtown several weeks ago and found that the bridge from Riverscape to Deeds Point is coming along nicely. The foundations are complete and the trusses for the bridge deck are on site. The plan is to get the bridge done in time for the 200 Anniversary of Flight, which is coming up this year. This bridge will connect Riverscape and the trail on the South bank of the Great Miami River with the river on the East bank at Deeds Point, which Five Rivers MetroParks is going to rebuild for the celebration. From there you can ride North to Kettering Field and Island MetroPark.
New Access to the Wright Brothers Flying Field A week or so ago I traveled to the new Wright Brothers Flying Field at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The base has made a portion of the base open to the public so that they can see the Flying Field. It is now under the control of the National Parks Service (NPS). The gate is on State Route 444 next to the Twin Base Golf Course. The gate is between Huffman MetroPark and the main base gate at Hq. Air Force Material Command. There is a parking lot near the Flying Field where you can take your bicycles. What is important to cyclists is the base plans to open a bicycle gate on Hebble Creek Road near the Twin Lakes so that cyclists can come to the Wright Brothers Flying Field from Huffman MetroPark.
(Continued) When Five Rivers MetroParks gets the trail completed from Eastwood MetroPark to Huffman MetroPark, the Flying Field will be available to cyclists anywhere on our network of multi-use trails. Eventually Greene County Parks will build either a bridge or a tunnel from Huffman MetroPark to the Wright Brothers Memorial, which now contains a new Wright Brothers Interpretive Center managed by the National Parks Service. The “T-Connector” as it has been called will allow cyclists from Fairborn and the vicinity to ride to the Wright Brothers Memorial take the “T-Connector” from there to Huffman MetroPark and from there will be able to use the entire trail system. I have placed new links from my “Wright Brothers Trail” page to the NPS and some new pictures of the “Intrepretive Center” on the page.
New Status of Tri-County Triangle Trail I got an email the other day from Hugh Barnhill a Trustee and webmaster of the Tri-County Triangle Trail, which is being constructed, in Chillicothe, Fayette County and Ross County. A total of 8.5 miles are completed and paved from Adena School Complex on County Road 550 to Frankfort and continues 6.5 miles east towards Chillicothe where it ends at Sulfur Lick Road. They are working towards getting more built for our use. Eventually the bicycle trail from Xenia Station to Jamestown (the Xenia-Jamestown Connector), and Washington Court House will be completed and we will be able to ride there from our current system of trails.
Xenia-Jamestown Connector While we are on the subject of the Xenia-Jamestown Connector, I understand that Greene County Parks is starting on the construction of the bridges needed to get to Jamestown. I’ll try to get more information as soon as possible.
Construction from South Charleston to London, Ohio. I got information from our friend Wayne Roberts who is the president of “The Friends of Madison county Parks and Trails.” He reports that the trail from South Charleston to London is starting to be built. As you may recall there was a court case or who owned the right-of-way and Greene County Parks won. This is the “Cedarville Trail” or “The Ohio To Erie Trail” that is already is use from Xenia to Cedarville and from Cedarville to South Charleston. I put up a new London web page last year on the site with pictures of London. The folks there are eagerly awaiting the trail to go through downtown London.

Well. That's about all for March 2003. It's another season to use our wonderful (and getting bigger and better) trail system. And I will be writing about it for your use.

Well. That’s about all for this month. 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

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