Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter February 2009

Miami Valley RailTrails Newsletter
February 2009

It’s the 14th. of February 2009; Happy Valentine's Day! I have some news for you. Please read on.

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

Paul Lawrence Dunbar Connector (a part of the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton) closed for Bridge Construction - Last month I told you that the Edwin C. Moses Bridge over the Wolf Creek would close in February 2009 until December 2010 for replacement. I talked to the County Engineer’s Office and got some help from Mr. John Zelinski; a senior Engineer with them. He sent me the information below about the proposed detour

“Great Miami Detours
The bikeways on both sides of the Great Miami had been detoured to follow Edwin C Moses Blvd and use the Washington Street Bridge. With the Edwin C Moses Bridge know closed the detours will enter and exit the river bed just north and south of Wolf Creek (Basically, use the trail crossing to get across Wolf Creek but still using Edwin C Moses Blvd the rest of the way.)

Wolf Creek Trail Detour
From the Great Miami the detour will use Third Street to Grimes Street to Second Street to Antioch Street to the intersection of Oakridge Drive and Antioch Street where the trial exits/enter the Wolf Creek levees. I’ve attached a map showing the detour route (red is the Wolf Creek Trail…blue is the detour route) [See the Map Here]

I know this can be confusing to describe in an email so if you need any additional clarification please contact me.
John Zelinski
Senior Engineer I
City of Dayton - Civil Engineering
101 W Third Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Phone: 937.333.4087
Fax: 937.333.4077”

I have added the text above and the MAP that Mr. Zelinski sent me to the Paul Laurence Dunbar Bikeway webpage (that’s the name for the Wolf Creek Recreation Trail in downtown Dayton). You can see the MAP HERE also.

Website Changes and Improvements

Google Earth Maps of Miami Valley Trails – I told you about Mike Monett’s work in building a set of Google Earth maps of the entire Miami Valley Trails System in December and January. I asked all of you to take a minute to look at his fine work and several of you not only reviewed his work but made helpful suggestions. I also wrote Mike and pointed out a couple of small errors. Mike said at the time: "Keep watching. I am improving the map system all of the time and you can expect additional features." To repeat from January: If you see something on the maps that doesn't look right please let me (Tom Recktenwalt) know and I'll forward your concerns to Mike so we can make changes and remove mistakes. His webpage is at: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgcrpw3z_2g2vwpqgk
More on Multiply – In December 2008, I told all of you about my move to Multiply. I moved my content from the old website to Multiply in January 2009. I found out unfortunately, that if doesn’t allow me to email all of you. And since that is the primary reason for its existence, I have decided to end my (short) relationship with Multiply. On 9 February, I send an email to all of you that have accounts with Microsoft, asking you to send me an email asking to be put on my PC’s mailing list for Miami Valley RailTrails. [Please Note: This does not apply to you if you get your newsletter email directly from my email address]. I send out another email asking that each of you who write me to put your email address in the body of your email. That is please say” My email address is (for example), JoeGlotz@aol.com Most of you are doing this correctly and I hope that all of you that are interested will continue to get my monthly newsletter.

Photos & Information Wanted Department

None this month

Did you Know Department?

Fire at Little River Café – 13 February – I learned from the TV news this morning that the Little River Café, a popular cyclist restaurant on the Little Miami Scenic Trail in Oregonia, suffered a devastating fire this morning. I am going to send Mark Burris, the owner, a card offering encouragement. If you’d like to send him a note of support the address (he doesn’t do email) is:
Little River Café
5527 Oregonia Road
Oregonia, Oh 45054
513-932-4770
However you can send emails of support via a friend Lori at: lorimettey@yahoo.com and she will print them out for him.

Announcements of Upcoming Events

See Upcoming Events Area

The Adventure Summit 20 – 21 February 2009 – This annual event is not to be missed if you are interested in outdoor events. It will be held at Wright State University’s Student Union. It is on Friday night from 5 to 8 PM and Saturday from 9:00 – 5:00 PM. For more information of what is going on please see their website at: http://www.metroparks.org/adventuresummit/
2009 Bike With a Ranger Schedule – I recently received the 2009 Brochure for this popular National Parks Service event. Mr. Mark Dues, who is in charge of the program wrote:
“In addition to the historic homes tour and the ride around Huffman Prairie--which we will continue this year--we're adding a tour in May and September called "Creative Dayton: Invention, Innovation, and Art in the Gem City." This tour will include the Wright Cycle Company, Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial, Riverscape Inventors' Walk and the Dayton History Archival Center, as well as a trip through the Oregon District.” Please see the brochure (.PDF) that I have available for your reading pleasure.

Webpage of the Month

Miami Valley RailTrails – This webpage shows you in tabular form every trail in every county in the Miami Valley. I use it to keep track of all of the trails mileage in the area. According to my data we now have 322.2 miles of trail. Perhaps more important, I have a table at the bottom of the page called “Connected Trails in the Miami Valley” which shows you all of the 234.9 miles of connected trails in the Miami Valley. Why do I think this table is important? It shows the connectivity we are achieving in connecting each trail with all of the others. We have been building trails for many years, now the park’s departments are working hard at “connecting them together” into what I have begun to call the Miami Valley Trails System.

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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