Published: March 30, 2006 08:48 am      

Heritage trail gains momentum

DANVILLE — After nearly two years of work, organizers of the National Road Heritage Trail are moving ahead with plans in hand.

“In 2004, the commissioners in Hendricks County gave us an endorsement to move ahead with this project,” said Greg Midgley, president of National Road Heritage Trail. “We now have endorsements from 70 organizations and have secured more than $100,000 in grant funds to help with the project.”

The National Road Heritage Trail is a 150-mile, eight-county project that will connect communities from Terre Haute to Richmond.

Midgley attended a meeting of the Hendricks County commissioners earlier this week to share the group’s plans.

“What we have to present today is an extensive guide that will show you where we are going from here,” he said.

The organization recently received a nine-volume development guide, or blueprint, from Storrow Kinsella Associates, consultants on the project. Midgley said the 14-month study has been well worth the $100,000 cost to help move the cross-state multi-use trail into realization.

“I will be leaving a statewide volume, a county volume, and a five-page concept overview for your planning department,” he said.

The Vandalia Trail is the newest section of the trail that was opened to the public in the past year when the county helped connect Amo and Coatesville with a rustic hiking trail along the former Vandalia Railroad line.

The grant funds began with cooperation from the Indiana Office of Tourism Development through the Lt. Governor’s Place Initiative with matching grants from Efroymson Fund, Greenways Foundation, Central Indiana Bicycle Association Foundation, Wabash Valley Community Foundation in Vigo County, and private donations.

For more information about the project, visit the website at www.indianatrails.org/NRHT.



brenda.holmes@flyergroup.com