It’s Saturday 16 August 2008 and I
have a LOT of news for you. I'm sorry that this newsletter is so long, but there
is a LOT going on in the Miami Valley this month. I'd appreciate it if you'd
read all of it.
Wolf Creek Recreation Trail News
– The Paul Lawrence Dunbar Bridge was dedicated and opened 29 July 2008
and the detour signs on the Wolf Creek Trail in downtown Dayton were removed. This trail is also known as the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Connector. Now you can ride this 3 mile trail to
Wesleyan MetroPark. In 2010 Five Rivers MetroParks plans to connect this trail segment with the remainder of the 13 mile
Wolf Creek Recreation Trail that runs Northwest from Trotwood, through Brookville to end at Verona.
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (Construction) – As all of you who have tried to ride the Great Miami River Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton know, the trail is broken in six places downtown
Last month I reported that the trail wash-out at Shepard’s Creeks just North of Crains Run MetroPark was fixed. Since then, I have been told
by the Miami Conservancy District (MCD) that the Great Miami River Recreation Trail from just South of Farmersville-West Carrollton Road (West Carrollton) to Sycamore Creek in Miamisburg will be closed for three months starting 1 August 2008 for trail paving.
Complete Streets – The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) hired a bicycle planning organization; Alta Planning + Design last year to build a
Comprehensive Long Range
Bicycle Plan for Montgomery, Greene and Miami Counties. As a part of the draft plan, they placed language in it that referred to “Complete Streets.” This idea, which is gathering steam nationally, required the county engineers to “consider” when planning a road paving or a new bridge to “consider” if a bike trail would make sense as part of the construction. The cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati at Columbus have already placed “Complete Streets” language in their bicycle plans.
Several of our engineers objected to the language used in the draft plan. The Dayton Daily News (DDN) wrote two editorials recommending the “Complete Streets” idea and DDN staff writer Mr. Ken McCall wrote two columns about it. I
wrote to the Editor of Dayton Daily News and sent a "Letter
To The Editor" (that they did not publish and I spoke at the last MVRPC Board meeting in support of “Complete Streets.” It is hoped that a compromise can be worked out and that the idea can be used in the Miami Valley.
News From Miami County –
There is a lot of construction going on it Miami County this Summer as
follows:
Section 3 is to be completed by
the end of 2008. Section 3 runs North from Tipp City’s Nature Reserve to connect with the existing
Section 1. Section 1 runs alongside Dye Mill Road North,
meets Section 2 and connects to the trails in
Troy. The completion of Section 3 will provide the long awaited connectivity between
Tipp City and Troy. I will be adding a
new webpage for Section 3 as construction is completed.
Section 6 isto be completed by Nov. 28, 2008 – This section extends Piqua’s trails South by about 2 miles to reach Peterson Road. However the gap in the trail is
North from the old Atomic Power Plans to Lock 9 Park in Piqua.
Tipp City
– To be completed by Fall 2008- Tipp City will build a ½ mile trail from Canal Locks Park to Kyle Park South of town. From here Section 4 (when built) will connect Kyle Park to Taylorsville MetroPark in Montgomery County.
Above, we explained that Tipp City will also be connected North to Troy
this Fall (2008).
News from the Village of Versailles – Versailles is planning to build one or more multi-use trails in the area. They want to connect to the trail system. Plans are only preliminary at this time but it looks like they could connect South roughly along the route of Swamp Creek to the Stillwater River corridor to the trail that is planned to be built West from Piqua to Covington and Bradford in Miami County and eventually connecting to Greenville in Darke County. This East to West trail which I have tentatively called the “Ohio – Indiana Trail” has the potential to cross into Indiana at the Union City Gateway (under
construction).
Hamilton County News Little Miami Scenic Trail to Grow South - Anderson Township gets $2M for trail. The Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Council of Governments (OKI) awarded funds to Anderson Township who will build another 2.82 miles of the Little Miami Scenic Trail South from the Little Miami Golf Center and the intersection Ohio 32 and Clough Road just about one mile East of Lunken Airport. The Township and Hamilton County Parks will provide the matching funding and build the trail which is scheduled to be completed in 2012.
Shelby County News The City of Sidney has a new bicycle
trail. - I’m told the new one mile long trail runs from the Graceland Cemetery West to the river. While it is not part of the Great Miami River Recreation Trail planned to run North from Montgomery County, through Miami County and into Shelby County, I am told that plans are being made to connect this trail segment to the main trail someday.
I'll be getting some photos and descriptions soon, and I'll provide them to
you. I did not find anything on the City of Sidney website (link above). If
anyone does, please let me know?
Great Miami River Recreation Trail (GMRRT) – Stewart Street to Crains Run Nature Park – Repaving trail from West Carrollton to
Miamisburg which will take 90 days (until November 2008).
Miami Valley to get New Trail Signs – In
February of this year, I reported that the Miami Conservancy District (MCD) had received an ODOT grant of $90K to buy new trail signs that will be used in Montgomery, Miami & Greene Counties. I am told that you’ll be seeing them soon along our trail system.
I'll get a picture to show you what the new signs look. See the Adobe
Acrobatfile that shows all of the sign formats. The document
shows the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail signs in
all formats. There are various kinds of trail markers, information signs,
routes signs and other forms of trail marking. You will notice that most of
the illustrative signs show the trail as Route
38, which it is. For more information on the names of the trails and
their route numbers please see Trail Names
& Route Numbers.
Approved
Multi-Use Trail Projects - This month's
page, that you probably have never seen, is my list page of every approved
project in the area. I show on it the types of trail funding, which
organization is funding the project, when they will get the money and what
was the completion date, if finished.
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
