National Road Heritage Trail Development Guide

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Summary:

On March 14, 2006, Storrow Kinsella Associates published for NRHT, Inc the 9-volume National Road Heritage Trail Development Guide.  The set consists of a Statewide volume and 8 County volumes.  The Statewide volume provides an overview of the opportunity across the state, plus general design guidelines recommended for consideration when developing local segments.  The County volumes provide very detailed information about the proposed route across each of the 8 counties involved from Terre Haute to Indianapolis to Richmond.  The counties include Vigo, Clay, Putnam, Hendricks, Marion, Hancock, Henry, and Wayne.

• 5-page executive summary 
  

• Original "Statewide" volume 

• "Statewide" volume marked up by NRHT, Inc. (January 2024) 

Background:

In October of 2004 the Tourism Development Division of the Indiana Department of Commerce (now the separate department "Indiana Office of Tourism Development") awarded NRHT, Inc and Indiana Trails Fund a $75,000 grant towards a $100,000 project to create a blueprint or master plan (now known as "development guide") for completion of this 150-mile cross-state greenway.  See NRHT announcement.  This grant is part of the Lt Governor's Quality of Place Initiative aimed at assisting projects that can improve statewide tourism.  The NRHT QPI project summary provided in the grant application is shown below.

"The 150-mile NRHT blueprint or (development guide) will be developed in several steps.  Property ownership along and adjacent to the entire proposed route will be researched and catalogued.  At the same time, the physical condition of the proposed route will be researched and summarized, noting intact and disturbed railroad bed, physical obstructions that would require an alternate route, intact and missing bridges, opportunities to highlight its connection with the Historic National Road, and areas where horseback riding could be accommodated on a parallel path.  In addition, the existing trails and trail plans along this corridor in Terre Haute, Greencastle, Fillmore, Plainfield, Indianapolis, Cumberland, Greenfield, Henry County, and Richmond will be summarized.  From this data, an overall route will be recommended and preliminary designs will be created of key trail sections and trailheads.  This document will illustrate how the NRHT can fit into and enhance the wide variety of environments found along its route."

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Schedule