INDYSTAR: B&O trail group buys 16 miles of former line

Some Rails-to-Trails news from the STAR.

Brownsburg -- A group of trail enthusiasts announced last week that 16 miles of the abandoned B&O rail corridor has been purchased from CSX in Hendricks County.

The announcement was a major milestone for the B&O Trail Association, which has worked for two decades to provide a rail trail to residents.
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A federal Transportation Enhancement Funds grant paid for 80 percent of the purchase, and an Indiana Heritage Trust grant covered the rest, said Diana Virgil, president of the association.

More than 19 miles of abandoned CSX corridor runs through Hendricks County from south of Clermont to North Salem. The association already owned more than a mile of the corridor before last week's purchase.

Construction on three miles in the east section of the county will begin in 2010 with an asphalt walking and biking trail and a separate equestrian trail, Virgil said.

Her group is in the middle of a $50,000 campaign to pay for design work for the trail. More information may be found online at www.botrail.org.

Full Article Here

Grand opening for new MTB Trail, December 19th

Though the trail had a soft opening on Nov. 21st, HMBA along with Mayor Ballard are having a grand opening of the new Southwestway Park Mountain Bike/Hiking Trail on December 19th. Here's the schedule as it stands:

1 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.: Remarks and Ribbon-cutting
1:20 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Hiking the 1.2 mile loop trail
2 p.m.: Mountain biking on the trail begins

HMBA has been hard at work on this trail, and there's a good buzz about it over on their forums. I'd suggest getting some knobs dirty soon.

Check out the HMBA forum for more info on the trail and the efforts the HMBA have put into opening up this trail.

Or, check out the Facebook group to connect with some of the people already working and riding the trail.

Trail Building opportunity

From Steve Surette of Friends of Hamilton County Cycling:

Volunteers needed! May 30 & 31 at River Rd Park

Hamilton County Parks Dept. has authorized the design & build of a small 1 mile natural surface multi-use trail at River Rd Park, 126th & River Rd, Carmel. We will start at 9 am the morning of May 30 & 31 at River Rd Park.

We will be building trail according to IMBA standards which are easily viewed on YouTube. While there are 9 videos, I recommend #5 for our purposes.



It will be hot, buggy and the nettles/poison ivy are in full bloom so bring water bug spray and dress accordingly. Hand tools will be provided for hours of hard work.

For more information, contact Steve Surette at steve@gsinspect.com.

Bike trail open house at Fort Harrison April 27

From Mike List:

Fort Harrison State Park will host an open house on a proposed multi-use10-mile hiking/mountain bike trail at the park from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday at the park office.

Representatives from Department of Natural Resources and the Hoosier Mountain Biking Association (HMBA) will be present for questions and discussion. Attendees can view maps of the proposed 10-mile route of single-track hiking and biking trails and a video of a mountain biker riding a trail.

The current plan calls for the trails to be built by the HMBA by the end of next summer, and then maintained by the HMBA, with proposed completion by the end of this summer.

An Environmental Assessment was prepared for the proposed trails and is available upon request. For more information, call Fort Harrison State Park at (317) 591-0904.

Mike List is with the DNR Division of State Parks and Reservoirs.

Construction kick-off for Northeast Corridor

Indianapolis Cultural Trail to host construction kick-off for Northeast Corridor

April 8, 2009 -- The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick will host a construction kick-off event to celebrate the Northeast Corridor, part of which will be renamed the "Efroymson Fund Corridor" when construction is complete.

At the event, Mayor Greg Ballard and Cultural Trail officials will announce recent significant gifts to the project, as well as three public art projects on the Northeast Corridor.

What: Northeast Corridor celebration; donations and public art announcements

When: Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 1:30 p.m.

Where: Alley on Mass Ave behind Chatham Tap and Scholar's Inn Restaurant

This is the second of seven construction phases or corridors for the Cultural Trail. The first half-mile East Corridor was completed in June 2008. The contract to construct the one-mile Northeast Corridor was awarded to Sunesis Construction Company in October 2008 for $6.1 million. Construction recently began, restricting traffic in the following areas:

--- New Jersey Street between Walnut and North streets is one-way northbound. Parking is still available in the east curb lane.

--- Walnut Street from New Jersey Street to Park Avenue is one-way eastbound with parking on the south curb lane.

IMBA Offers Resources for Clubs Seeking Economic Stimulus Funding

This just in from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (of which I know HMBA, CIBA, and the Indiana Bicycle Coalition is a part):

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law an economic recovery package that contains funding for bicycle facilities, trails, public land recreation and improvement projects. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar estimated that the funding could create as many as 100,000 jobs and help communities across America finance new projects on public lands.

IMBA urges its affiliated clubs to work in partnership with their local elected officials and land managers to find out what funding is available for mountain bike trails. In particular, this is a crucial opportunity to pitch decision makers on projects that are “shovel ready” (i.e. those awaiting funding, with an existing, land manager-approved start date).

Read the full article here, complete with contact info and links to their online resources to help secure stimulus funds for trail development.