March 2016

Amo-Coatesville Vandalia Trail Becomes a County Park

The Friends of the Vandalia Trail are pleased to announce that the trail project in the Amo-Coatesville-Putnam County Line area has reached another significant milestone this winter. After 11 years as a volunteer-led not-for-profit project with strong support from the start from the towns of Amo and Coatesville and the Amo-Coatesville Sewer Conservancy and then from Hendricks County Parks & Recreation over the last 8 years, this section of the trail has now officially become a county park with the volunteers continuing in a supporting role.

The Friends of the Vandalia Trail are extremely thankful also for the early important administrative and technical support and guidance from the not-for-profits Indiana Trails Fund and Hendricks County Trail Development Association, without which this 4.5-mile section of the project could not have been organized and initially developed. That supporting role was then transitioned to the not-for-profit National Road Heritage Trail, Inc, focused on promoting this corridor across the state for non-motorized travel. Now, in order to better coordinate the continuing volunteer activities with the new trail owner, the volunteers have become a committee in the not-for-profit Parks Foundation of Hendricks County.

For even more history of this project and the supporters who made it possible, please see the NEWS, SPONSORS, and VOLUNTEERS pages of the Vandalia Trail web site.

The first year of this new arrangement will see the start of some very exciting upgrades for the Vandalia Trail. Late this year, Hendricks County Parks will begin construction preparations for the 10-foot wide paved bike path along the entire 4.5 miles, nice trailheads and public restrooms in both towns, improved signage (both interpretive and wayfinding), and other important landscaping and drainage improvements. In advance of that, volunteers and Hendricks County Parks crews will also upgrade the parallel equestrian trail and horse trailer parking this summer to improve its maintainability and its resistance to wet weather.

We hope that you are as excited about these upcoming improvements as we are and hope that you will join us in helping to make the trail as valuable of an asset for the area as possible.