Close to $1M needed to finish bike trail in Middletown

No city money spent on recent GMR Bike Trail leg; last portion could be costly.

By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer Updated 10:26 PM Saturday, June 2, 2012

    MIDDLETOWN — The city will need close to $1 million in order to complete the final portion of the Great Miami River Bike Trail within the city.
    Officials with bike trail contractor Barry Brown Paving are checking off the final items on the punch list for the 1.2-mile stretch recently completed. The city now has about 9 miles of bike trails, and bikers and walkers can travel from Oxford State Road to close to North Breiel Boulevard Road.
    But the last nearly 2 miles of the trail — which will end at Baxter Drive in Franklin — will be costly. About $900,000 will be needed to construct that portion, but 55 percent of that cost is for about 1,000 feet of retaining walls, Rob Nichols, an engineer with the city’s Public Works and Utilities Department.
    “There’s not a whole lot of land and it would require a retaining wall,” said Nichols, “so it is more expensive.”
    Once that stretch is finished, bike riders will be able to travel to near Piqua on the trail.
    City Manager Judy Gilleland said while quality of life amenities like the bike trail are an important aspect to the Middletown community, its’s not a top priority.
    “The bike path has been built over many, many years as grant funds became available. There has not been a guarantee that it would ever be complete but it’s a project we keep in the back of our minds if the funds become available,” she said.
    Gilleland said the city relies on funding it cannot use for essential city services, such as emergency services or maintenance of the streets. Only funds are earmarked for recreation trails or park-related activities would be used, she said. There are some initial discussions with regional organizations about funding options and resources.
    No city money was spent completing this recent leg of the trail.
    The bulk of the funding for this most recent portion — which cost $501,000 — came from an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant from the federal stimulus package. The remaining money came from the Middletown Community Foundation and the Miami Conservancy District.
    The project was to be completed this past fall, Nichols said, but the schedule was compromised due to delays with the contractor and environmental red tape with approvals from the Ohio Department of Transportation.