Trail News

Ground Breaking for Simon Kenton Trail The event was Saturday 14 April, 2001 at the Cedar Bog in Champaign County. The first phase of the trail will start construction about 1 May and will run 2.5 miles from the Cedar Bog north to Start Rout 55. Other phases will take the trail north to reach Urbana and south to connect with the Buck Creek Trail in Springfield. That will connect the Simon Kenton to the growing network of connected trails in the Miami Valley.

Construction To Start On Spinning Road Bridge Construction will start in May for the long awaited bridge on the CreekSide Trail over Spinning Road in Beavercreek. The bridge is planned to be complete by Fall 2001 at a cost of $330K.

New Trail in Piqua Under Construction A new trail is being built in Piqua. The trail is an East West trail paralleling Start Route 36. The trail planners were able to save the large railroad bridge over the Great Miami River in downtown Piqua. (see below).

New Trail in Miami County A new trail will be built year from the existing trail in Taylorsville MetroPark (Montgomery County) north through Tipp City and Troy to Piqua. There is construction in Piqua (see above) and will be this year in Tipp City (see below)

Five Rivers MetroParks Levy Passes! That's right! All of us who live in Montgomery County of Ohio have something to give thanks about this fall. Our friends from Five Rivers MetroParks put a renewal levy on the ballet 3 November 2000 to increase the funds available to Five Rivers MetroParks and to extend the levy to 10 years. The tax levy passed 65% to 35% providing not only more funding for Five Rivers but a "mandate for operations." I am especially grateful that you kind folks took the time to go and vote for this levy.

What many people do not know and what I found out recently is that staff from Five Rivers had to develop budgets in case the levy passed and to decide what millage to request from the voters. Since the levy passed three bike trails are already funded and now need to be planned and executed. The trails funded are the following.

Wolf Creek RailTrail - This bike trail from Trotwood to Verona via Brookville is a 13-mile gem. The problem with this trail is that it does not connect downtown to the River Corridor Bikeway. The new levy funds for the development of the trail extension downtown, past the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, along McGee Blvd. to downtown to meet the trail where the Wolf Creek empties into the Great Miami River. The complete right-of-way is not available but since funding is in hand, I expect to hear good news from Five Rivers MetroParks in the next year or two.

North Miami Bikeway - This trail is partially built. The first section runs from north of the Taylorsville MetroPark, through the park, and along the Great Miami River to the Soccer Fields in Huber Heights on Rip Rap Road. Mr. Marvin Olinsky, Executive Director of Five Rivers MetroParks dedicated the trail this Fall. Because of the successful levy the funding is in hand to complete the next two sections. They are to extend the trail south crossing the river at the new Road Bridge for Rip Rap Road/Wagoner Ford Road which will start construction in 2001. The last section will connect the trail to the River Corridor Trail at Triangle Park.

Mad River Bikeway - This existing trail runs from downtown along the Mad River to Eastwood MetroPark. The funding will extend the trail under Harshman Rd. along the River to extend the trail into Huffman MetroPark. The trail will be connected later to the Kauffman Avenue Trail that runs from the Wright Brothers Memorial to downtown Fairborn. The connector for the two trails is a proposed bridge called the T-Connector. This bicycle bridge will extend from the Wright Brothers Memorial across State Route 444 and the railroad tracks into Huffman MetroPark. This will connect the city of Fairborn to the entire trail system.

Huffman Dam MetroPark Huffman Dam Road Soon to Become Bikeway While continuing the ongoing Dam Safety Initiative, the Miami Conservancy District will work in conjunction with Greene County to extend a section of the Miami Valley bikeway system. The Greene County Engineer vacated Huffman Dam Road, the county roadway crossing the top of the dam, because it is no longer a necessary part of the county's transportation network, has a low volume of traffic and is expensive to maintain. During the crest-wall construction, Miami Conservancy District will removed only a portion of the existing roadway. A 12-foot wide section of pavement has been retained and converted into a bikeway/maintenance road upon completion of the project.

North Miami Bikeway Open!
The bikeway is completed and open from Tadmore north of the Taylorsville Dam to the Huber Heights Soccer Fields, a distance of 3.5 miles.

Buck Creek Trail Open! From Pumphouse Road near Buck Creek State Park, 3.5 miles to Veteran's Park in downtown Springfield.

Creekside Trail is dedicated! With the exception of the ramps at Spinning Road that need to be redone; the Creekside Trail in Montgomery County is complete. The trail now connects the Mad River Trail that terminates in Eastwood MetroPark to Xenia Station in Greene County. Mr. Marvin Olinsky (at right), the Executive Director of Five Rivers MetroParks dedicated the trail. The dedication was held at the Fifth/Third Park and Ride on the Trail.

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New Bicycle Bridge Across Great Miami River Dayton Daily News had an picture of the new bicycle bridge being erected at Rip-Rap Road and Angler's Lane to carry the North Miami Bikeway across the Great Miami River to the East Bank. The trail will continue south until it reached the new road and bicycle bridge discussed below which will take the trail back to the west bank to continue south to connect with the River Corridor Bikeway at Triangle Park.

New Bridge over Great Miami at Rip Rap Road Montgomery County approved a $6.3M construction over the Great Miami River which will contain a 10 foot bikeway separated from the roadway by a concrete barrier. This continues the construction of the North Miami Bikeway from Taylorsville MetroPark, along the Great Miami River south to connect with the River Corridor Bikeway at Triangle Park in downtown Dayton. A another section of the bikeway along the river from US-40 to Little York Road should be completed by October 2000. The next section includes the new bridge and construction south of it should be complete by the year 2004, says Five Rivers MetroParks planner Judith Vargo.

Creekside Trail Dedication will be held at 5th./3rd. Park and Ride on Dayton-Xenia Road at I-675 on Saturday 3 June at 11 AM. Be sure to be there!

Governor Taft supports Rail Trails - The Governor wants a $200 million dollar bond levy on the November 2000 ballot to build more parks and bike trails. If passed this bond levy would add a tremendous boost to trail development in Ohio.

Creekside Trail (Formerly known as the "H-Connector") is open for use. I took pictures of the new section of the trail built in Montgomery County by Five Rivers MetroParks on 1 January 2000. The trail extends the existing trail that ended at the County line. The trail runs parallel to US-35 to Woodman Drive where it stops at a north-south trail. If you follow the North section you reach Eastwood MetroPark where you can ride to Dayton via the Mad River Trail. Running South the trail crosses Linden Ave and currently ends at Woodbine.

Waynesville will build spur to Little Miami Scenic Trail The city of Waynesville has appropriated $51,832 to build a spur from the city to the Little Miami Scenic Trail at Corwin. Improvements to bridges on Corwin Avenue over the Mill Creek and the river will be accomplished. However, no money is available to improve the intersection of Corwin Avenue and State Route 42.

Partial Funding for "Great Connection" December 15, 1999 Governor Bob Taft Announces Bicycle/Pedestrian Project Funds In a December 14, 1999 press release, Governor Taft announced the bicycle/pedestrian projects in Ohio that were selected to receive funding through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) monies.

Among the local projects selected was the Miami Conservancy District's Warren County section of the Great Connection, which received approval of a grant for $1,135,928. The 28-mile Great Connection when completed would link the 28.4-mile Great Miami River pathway (AKA River Corridor Bikeway) with the City of Hamilton's 3.7-mile bikeway. The Great Miami River pathway begins at Sinclair Park in Harrison Township and ends at Crains Run Park in Miami Township near the Warren County line.

The 3.3-mile section funded in Warren County lies entirely within the City of Franklin and would follow the Great Miami River. The grant covers 80% of the construction cost of the project. The portion of the project cost not covered by the TEA-21 grant would be paid by local government entities. The total cost of the project is expected to be about 1.9 million dollars.

The funding, planning and construction of The Great Connection is managed by the Miami Conservancy District. For further information, please contact Mr. Hans Landefeld at 937-223-1278, ext. 3223.

River Corridor Bikeway Dayton, Ohio - The Miami Conservancy District will widen and repave the River Corridor Bikeway in the City of Moraine beginning in early December. The 1.8-mile section between Carillon Boulevard and East River Road was originally constructed 20 years ago.

The existing 8-foot wide path will be increased to a 10-foot width and the entire surface repaved. The project should be completed in less than a month. Sections of the bikeway will be temporarily closed during the construction. The Miami Conservancy District maintains 26 miles of bikeway throughout the Miami Valley. For more information, contact Mike Robinette, General Manager, the Miami Conservancy District at 937-223-1271.

Funds for Concord Trail Turned Down An attempt to secure funding for developing a trail on the old Miami and Erie Canal in Concord Township near Pique was turned down by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The application for $185,000 initial funding was not as good as some other requests for federal funding for trails said the state. Bike Miami Valley supports this trail highly and will be adding our support to the builders of this trail. Ultimately the trail, if build, would extend south to Dayton connecting at Englewood MetroPark.

River Corridor Bikeway will be repaved from where it crosses under I-75 near Carillon Park south to East River Road. This project will include widening the bikeway from 8' to 10'. A contract has been awarded for the work and it should be completed before the end of November 1999.

River Corridor Bikeway downtown is scheduled to be seal-coat the first week of November 1999. The area to be treated includes both the downtown loop and the section between Stewart Street and the I-75 bridge near Carillon Park.

The Great Connection is being developed by the Miami Conservancy District to run south from Dayton and the River Corridor Bikeway through Warren and Butler counties to end at an existing trail in Hamilton. The trail, which is in planning stage, will be the major connector of Montgomery County ultimately to the Ohio River.

The "Creekside Trail" or the "H-Connector" trail which currently ends just West of I-675 and US-35 is being extended to Eastwood MetroPark. Today I saw that the preliminary asphalt had already been laid. I expect that this last link from Xenia to the River Corridor Bikeway will be completed before Winter. Unfortunately, the plans were not completed in time for the construction of the bridge over Spinning Road. The contractor is ramping the trail down to street level for the time being. They'll put up the bridge, maybe next year.

Construction started some time ago on the extension of the Little Miami Scenic Trail north from Springfield to Cedar Bog. The trail will be extended in stages to Urbana and Buck Creek State Park, but the county has funding currently to reach the Bog. I do not have any completion date for the trail to the Cedar Bog.

The Cedarville Trail is being extended from Cedarville to South Charleston. I have not seen the construction myself but understand it is underway. In South Charleston the Historic Society has renovated the old Charleston Station and a old log cabin is being erected next to the Station. Preliminary work has been done on the park to be constructed at the trail across the street from the Station. Work on the trail itself from Cedarville has not started. I also noticed that two bridges on the trail will have to be replaced.

The "Central State Connector" from the Cedarville Trail to Central State University was dedicated 8 October 1999 and named for Dr. Vivian F. Lewis a longtime advocate of cycling and trail activist who helped develop preliminary plans for the entire Greene County Trail System back in the 1960's. I'll be adding some pictures to the website soon.

See: http://www.intellweb.com/trails/taylors.htm for more information.

My reading tells me that the "Canal Locks Park" in Huber Heights at Endicott and Fishburg Roads has been completed. Part of the money used for development was from Five Rivers MetroParks. Thanks Five Rivers! The new park will have a spur built to it from the new "North Miami Bikeway" that is planned from Taylorsville MetroPark to Triangle Park South along the Great Miami River. See:
http://www.intellweb.com/trails/taylors.htm ( on the Miami Valley RailTrails site) for more on Canal Locks Park and pictures.

Little Miami Scenic Trail. Now at 72 miles (Milford to Springfield) it is the longest trail in the Miami Valley. Recently the "Yellow Springs Station" was dedicated. It will be open around the clock. It has restrooms and water and the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce have moved their offices to "The Station." If you are interested they are still selling bricks for the walk outside of the station, to help defray costs.

At the end of the new bike path, you can continue northward to downtown Springfield via existing roads and bike paths. The route is fairly well marked but here is the routing in case you are interested: At the end of the Little Miami Scenic Trail turn right (north) on Springfield-Xenia Rd., then right on John St., then left at the beginning of the bike path. At the end of the bike path, turn right on State St., then left on Plum St., then left on Fair St., then right at the beginning of the bike path. At the end of the bike path, you are on S. Center St. and downtown Springfield is in front of you.

There are plans in the future for the Little Miami Scenic Trail to continue northeast to Buck Creek State Park and north to Urbana where it will link with the Simon Kenton Trail.

Marina Drive section of the River Corridor Bikeway While repaving Marina Drive, the City of West Carrollton has painted bike lanes so that vehicle and bike traffic will be separated along this busy section of the bikeway. The city ahs also created a parking lot next to Whitman's Bike and is building a small park just to the north. All these are much appreciated amenities for the cycling community. I drove this section last weekend and I think that it's a big improvement.

Ohio to Erie Trail.
(AKA Cedarville Trail). This trail now completed to Cedarville is a part of the Ohio to Erie Trail. Recently I heard that the money was available to extend the trail to South Charlestown. Plans are being made to extend the trail to London and then Columbus. It is planned that the trail will connect the Ohio River at Cincinnati to Lake Erie at Cleveland by 2003.

Kauffman Avenue Bikeway. ( 4.6 miles) The trail is complete from downtown Fairborn to the Wright Brothers Memorial on Kauffman Avenue. The next link is construction of a bridge across Ohio 444 and the Conrail tracks to Huffman MetroPark. This will allow the trail to connect with the H Connector trail AKA Creekside Trail at Eastwood MetroPark.

H-Connector Trail (AKA Creekside Trail). The last remaining section of the H-Connector Trail between Beavercreek and Eastwood Park is scheduled to open by the end of 1999. When completed, this section will link 50 miles of bike trails in Montgomery County with 90 miles of bike trails in Greene County! This long awaited event will further solidify Southwest Ohio's position as having one of the best bicycling trail networks in the United States.

Trail to be Build in Tipp City A trail will be constructed this year from Thomas B. Kyle Park south of Tipp City north through the playfields to City Park in Tipp City proper. This is a part of the trail through Miami County.
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