We are highlighting this article based on a recent Blade story about Lucas County and Metroparks seeking funding to extend the trail from Silica to Centennial. You can find a map of this area below! We Are Traffic supports this project.
UPDATE: November 14, 2017 -- The cycling community was well represented at the meeting today where the Lucas County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the Drainage Improvement Project. While this project will prepare the path for the UPT Phase 2 expansion, further efforts will be needed to secure the funding for actual trail construction. Look for further updates as they develop! Thanks to everyone that attended the meeting today!
Why is this hearing important for cyclists (walkers and joggers)? While the project is focused on drainage improvements along Ten Mile Creek, Lucas County Engineering has partnered with Metroparks of Toledo to include right-of-way along the southern edge of the creek to extend the University Parks Trail (known as phase 2). Funding was just awarded to construct Phase 1 from King Road to Silica, Lucas County cleared that section earlier this year (see here). The U/P Trail extensions will ultimately take the trail to Sylvan Prairie Trail and beyond.
A public hearing will be held in the first floor Assembly Room of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, One Government Center, Toledo, Ohio at 2:00PM on November 14, 2017 for the purpose of hearing comments related to this project.
It is very important that trail users be present at this meeting to voice support for the U/P Trail extension. We hope you can join us at the meeting. If you have any questions or comments about the meeting, please contact keith@WeAreTraffic.org
Toledo Metroparks has received great news about grant requests to advance three important trail projects. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has awarded the following, pending final approval:
$214,098 from the Clean Ohio Trails Fund toward the cost of extending the University/Parks Trail 0.6 miles from King Road to Silica Road. The three-phase project will eventually extend the trail all the way to Sylvan Prairie Park in Sylvania
$143,040 from the Recreational Trail Program toward the cost of constructing a trailhead parking lot and restroom building along the Chessie Circle Trail at Copeland and Detroit avenues
And $16,056 from the NatureWorks program toward the cost of building a trail-head in Fulton County for the Beach Ridge Trail in Oak Openings
We anticipate that the projects will complete by end of 2018 but look for more details as they become available. And for mountain bike enthusiasts...
Mt. Bike Trail Progressing Quickly
The Oak Openings staff, with the help of volunteers, has roughed in the entire Beach Ridge singletrack trail. Over the winter and next spring, they will install several boardwalks, bridges and signs to complete the project. Praising the crew and management by Craig Elton, Joe Fausnaugh said that not only did the work get done faster than he anticipated, but it was done "at such a high level of quality that this will very quickly become the best mountain bike trail in the state.”
There is a new ride-share program in Ohio, sponsored locally by TMACOG, that provides resources and incentives to promote alternate forms of transportation to reduce single-occupant motor vehicle commutes.
If you use your bike to commute to work, or for routine activites like grocery shopping, you are a candidate for this program. Click through the link to find out more info and register to participate.
We Are Traffic is working with local businesses that have employees that commute by bike and in many cases, it is their only form of transportation to get to work.
Last week, we met with the manager of Cinco de Mayo on Central Avenue and presented a helmet and light kit for one of their employees who signed up for Gohio Commute. Carlos is very thankful for the incentives as he commutes many times after dark, previously without lighting.
Contact us if you have an employee that could benefit from the Gohio Commute program!