“We told her it went to Smith Park and Wot-A-Dog (a hot-dog stand two-miles away). She said “great,” and then passed us on the way to Smith Park.”
The jogger is among a growing number of city residents who are discovering the newly finished 2-mile bike path that runs from Lake Avenue to the southern part of the city.
The path — completed this month — is the first of three phases of construction for the only bike path in the south and west portions of Clark County.
“There’s not a day I walk down the path that I don’t see someone I know,” said April Ball, who was pushing her 6-month-old daughter, Charlotte, in a stroller last week. “I would say every day someone in our family is using the trail.”
The tree-lined asphalt path runs from Lake Avenue south, through Smith Park, ending just north of where Honey Creek crosses under Ohio 235.
The trail was funded through federal transportation funds and cost $695,000, said Scott Schmid, transportation director for the Clark County Transportation Coordinating Committee. The next 0.75 mile will continue the trail south along Ohio 235 to the former Tecumseh YMCA which was recently bought by a New Carlisle church. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2012.
The cost of that portion, using the same funding source, is estimated at $460,000, Schmid said. The city of New Carlisle will be responsible for the maintenance of the full 2.75 miles.
The TCC last week finished a feasibility study with Bethel Twp. on extending the trail another 2 miles to Raynor Park in Park Layne. “That’s the long-range plan,” Schmid said. The feasibility study allows the parties to look at possible funding sources both for construction and long-term maintenance, he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.
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