NRHT News

2020-2021 Progress and News

Aug '21 Vigo & Hancock Counties & Richmond Open New Trails
Apr '21 Indy Upgrades Pleasant Run Trail & Completes Pennsy Trail
Mar '21 Round 2 Next Level Trails Grants Go to 2 NRHT Trails
Jan '21 Indiana to Resume Next Level Trails Grant Program
Nov '20 Vigo County Causeway Trail Construction Progressing
Oct '20 Indy Greenways New 1.7 Miles of Pennsy Trail
Oct '20 Airport Loop Bike Ride Event a Success for Indy West Side
Mar '20 Monthly NRHT, Inc. Bike Rides Planned for 2020

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2022-2023
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2016-2017
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August 2021
Vigo & Hancock Counties & Richmond Open New Trails:

This summer, several new trail segments opened along the cross-state National Road Heritage Trail corridor.

Vigo County opened its 1.1-mile boardwalk-style causeway trail connecting Terre Haute with West Terre Haute along the north edge of the Wabashiki Fish & Wildlife Preserve, next to highway US 150. This major project was funded by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program and local match.

The city of Richmond opened its first half mile of the Riverside Heritage Trail on the east side of the city along the Whitewater River. This paved trail was funded by a Recreational Trails Program grant and local match. It will become part of the trail connector between the Cardinal Greenway and the state of Ohio for the cross-state National Road Heritage Trail and the cross-country Great American Rail Trail.

Hancock County opened its first mile of paved Pennsy Trail from CR 400W to CR 500W, between Cumberland's and Greenfield's Pennsy Trails. This paved upgrade was funded by the Transportation Alternatives Program and local match. It is not yet connected, but Hancock County was awarded a state of Indiana Next Level Trails grant to build another 1.3 miles of Pennsy Trail west to connect to Cumberland's Pennsy Trail by the end of 2022.

In the NRHT interactive map, zoom in to these locations to see the route details.

April 2021
Indy Upgrades Pleasant Run Trail & Completes Pennsy Trail:

This winter and Spring, Indianapolis DPW completed upgrades on 3 sections of the Pleasant Run Trail and completed another 2-mile extension of the Pennsy Trail to connect with Cumberland's Pennsy Trail. This final section of Pennsy Trail in Indianapolis results in a 17.6-mile long continuous section of cross-state NRHT now open from western Hancock County to the Indianapolis Zoo in downtown (see map).
Indy Pleasant Run-Pennsy Trails

The Pleasant Run Trail upgrades rerouted about 1 mile of trail to improve separation from motor vehicle traffic and facilitate trail user navigation along the meandering greenway trail route. The newest section of Pennsy Trail reclaimed a route through urban development that required and also benefits from creative routing and terrain changes not typical of a rail-trail.

Pleasant Run Trail

Pennsy Trail

March 2021
Round 2 Next Level Trails Grants Go to 2 NRHT Trails:

On March 4, Governor Holcomb announced the 18 award winners of Next Level Trails Round 2 grants. Of the 10 winners for regional trails, 2 were projects along the cross-state NRHT. The town of Plainfield will receive $1.7 million to construct the last 2.3 miles of Vandalia Trail needed to traverse the entire town. Hancock County will receive $670,000 to construct 1.3 miles of Pennsy Trail, extending east from Cumberland's Pennsy Trail at CR 600 W.

January 2021
Indiana to Resume Next Level Trails Grant Program:

On January 12, Governor Holcomb announced that the state of Indiana will resume Round 2 of the Next Level Trails funding program that had been paused in 2020 due to the sharp drop in state revenues. This is good news for the four organizations along the cross-Indiana National Road Heritage Trail that had submitted Round 2 applications in late 2019. Funding these four applications would provide another 10+ miles of trail along the cross-state initiative. DNR will announce the next steps.

November 2020
Vigo County Causeway Trail Construction Progressing:

Construction work has been progressing on the 1.1-mile causeway trail that will be a raised concrete boardwalk-style trail along the south side of the US 150 causeway to connect the trails of Terre Haute and West Terre Haute adjacent to the Wabashiki Fish & Wildlife Preserve. (Indiana Economic Digest story link) Because of the space needed for the heavy equipment involved in this trail construction, the 4-lane US 150 has been temporarily reduced to 2 lanes as shown in the photo below. This trail segment is scheduled for completion in October 2021, filling the gap between the current trails shown in blue in the map below.

Causeway trail construction in process along US 150

New causeway trail will connect the "A" points on this map, excerpted from the overall cross-state NRHT interactive map.

October 2020
Indy Greenways Opens New 1.7 Miles of Pennsy Trail:

The Pennsy Trail gap between Indianapolis and Cumberland is now 1.7 miles shorter. This Fall, Indy Greenways opened their next section of paved trail from Shortridge Rd to Post Rd east of Irvington. Notably, this section includes a nice trail tunnel under I-465. Hikers, dog walkers, cyclists, and other paved trail enthusiasts are enjoying its connectivity to Irvington. It is also good to see that Googlemaps has already added this new section to their bike trails mapping layer.

This is part of a 3.7-mile extension project, the rest of which will complete the trail connection to Cumberland's Pennsy Trail in 2021.

Oct 2020
Airport Loop Bike Ride Event a Success for Indy West Side:

On October 3, the White Lick Creek & Vandalia Trail Alliance held its 2nd annual fundraising bike ride, this year called the Airport Loop Bike Ride around the Indianapolis International Airport. 110 participants came out for the event, including 90 cyclists on 20, 10, & 5-mile routes and 20 hikers and 12 sponsors supported the event with generous donations and on-site displays. All enjoyed the nice cool, sunny weather during the tour around the airport's perimeter roads.

It was very good to see such strong support for development of the White Lick Creek Greenway and Vandalia Trail bike/pedestrian facilities in western Indianapolis to connect to Plainfield and west, Avon area and north, and east into Indianapolis. Many thanks to the Indianapolis Airport Authority for offering their roads and generous planning support and sponsorship for the event and for their police force's very effective help escorting and providing traffic security at key intersections for the large group of cyclists spread out around their facility. Also, a big thanks to the Bridgeport Central Baptist Church for making their nice parking lot and facilities available as the ideal staging point for the event.

The other sponsors of the event were:
Athletico Sports Therapy
Indy Gateway
Regal 8 Inn
SKA Landscape Architects
Midwest Trike Megastore
Bright Sheet Metal Company
Pete Cowden, candidate for State Senate
Jeff Ashcraft Management Services of Primerica
Morgan Insurance Group
Rose Promotions
Dan Adams, Artisan Realtors

Here are a few photos plus a link to more.

Airport Loop Bike Ride registration & sponsors

Airport Loop Bike Ride cruising on Perimeter Road

March 2020
Monthly NRHT, Inc. Bike Rides Planned for 2020:

NRHT, Inc. has planned a series of free monthly bike rides to explore the open sections of the cross-state National Road Heritage Trail and to enjoy the local culture of each area. Below are the dates that are set this Spring and summer and the maximum mileages. The out and back routes allow riders to choose shorter distances and still ride with the group. Most rides will include 2 trails connected by low traffic on-road sections. Individual announcements will be made for each ride giving starting times and locations and more details on the surface types, etc. For a preview, visit the NRHT maps page.

May 16 - Terre Haute/Vigo County (NRHT, ISU trails, Wabashiki Trail) [22 miles]

June 13 - Hendricks County (Plainfield & Hendricks County Vandalia Trails) [45 miles]

July 25 - Hancock County (Greenfield & Cumberland Pennsy Trails, Buck Creek Trail) [32 miles]

Aug 15 - Henry County (Raysville & Lewisville NRHTs) [19 miles]

Sep 19 - Putnam County (People Pathways, Vandalia Trail, Putnam Nature Trail) [30 miles]

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