[IndianaTrails] Monon Trail visitors like what they see

[Robert J. Matter]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060806/COLUMNISTS10/608060340/-1/ZONES04

August 6, 2006

Russ Pulliam
Monon Trail visitors like what they see


A 10-mile bike ride on the Monon Trail may be mere fun for most people.
But IUPUI researcher Greg Lindsey, who studies the Monon and other
trails, keeps finding benefits in terms of physical fitness and economic
development.
	
With the city's trail system as the background, Lindsey invited
researchers from across the country to IUPUI this past week for an
Active Living Research conference on physical fitness and nutrition. The
conference was sponsored through IUPUI's School of Public and
Environmental Affairs with support from the health-oriented Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation.

The researchers, from places such as Los Angeles and Houston, got a very
warm, 95-degree tour of the trail system by bus and on foot. Ray Irvin,
the state's czar for bike trails, led the tour and noted how it provided
an unplanned economic payoff, with businesses often taking on the Monon
name for marketing purposes.

He also sees benefits from the state's extension of the trail through
low-income neighborhoods south of 30th Street. At 17th and Cornell, he
notes, "There has been a marked change in the neighborhood for the past
few years since we opened it up down here. There was a lot of litter
before."

Researchers from other cities observed that the Monon is unusual in the
way is stretches across racial and economic lines, from 10th Street to
Carmel.

UCLA researcher Antronette Yancey was impressed with the connections
between neighborhoods. "What I saw yesterday was fabulous," said Dr.
Yancey, who also has been a public health advocate in New York City. "It
went through a variety of neighborhoods of different economic levels. In
low-income areas of Los Angeles, they don't have bike paths. They barely
have sidewalks, and they are poorly maintained."

Los Angeles does have a linear trail, along the Pacific Ocean, and
scattered trails in the region. "When they have a bike trail, such as in
Beverly Hills, they don't connect to anything else," she said.
University of Maryland researcher Michelle Harris noted something
similar in comparing the Indianapolis trail system with those in
Washington, D.C. trails. "Here it seems more coordinated," she said.
"There in the District it seems more piecemeal. It's not part of the big
plan of the city."

The trail system in Indianapolis is only about 10 years old, but the
timing was right for its development when Irvin promoted it under mayors
Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson. Health researchers are warning that
Americans, and especially Hoosiers, are overweight and out of shape.
We need to run more, or bike, or walk or swim. We also need to eat more
veggies and fruits and lay off chips, sodas and candy. And say no to
supersizing at the fast-food places.

That was the message from Dr. Virginia Cain, the Marion County Health
Department director. She and her staff are sorting through 2005 research
involving Marion County residents. The findings don't look good so far.
About 25 percent of residents in the city are obese, and 60 percent
qualify as either obese or overweight. Put that in the context of
national research that American children today might be the first
generation not to live longer than their parents because a sedentary
lifestyle.

The city's bike trail system has quite a few miles to go before it
connects the entire county. But it may have been invented just in time
to help with a health crisis that can be reversed with exercise.

Pulliam is associate editor of The Star. Contact him at (317) 444-6001
or at russell.pulliam at indystar.com.