[IndianaTrails] Task force forms to aid Towpath Trail creation

[Robert J. Matter]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/14644131.htm

Posted on Tue, May. 23, 2006

Task force forms to aid Towpath Trail creation

By Michael Zennie
The Journal Gazette

Seven local trail leaders have formed the Towpath Trail Task Force to 
coordinate the final planning stages of the seven-mile pedestrian and 
bicycle pathway.

The task force, which will meet on a monthly basis, aims to ensure 
members of the various groups involved with the Towpath are on the same 
page, Fort Wayne City Greenways Manager Dawn Ritchie said.

The Towpath, which officials estimate will cost $2.1 million, will run 
southwest from Rockhill Park, at Catalpa Street and West Jefferson 
Boulevard, to Lutheran Hospital, 7950 W. Jefferson Blvd. The trail will 
ultimately connect the New Haven and Fort Wayne Greenway system with 
Aboite Township’s Aboite New Trails system, Ritchie said.

The group has already helped open communication among the various 
players in the pathway construction, task force and city Greenway 
Consortium member, Roger Goodland said.

For example, Greenway officials wanted to make the Towpath 10 feet wide, 
while Aboite New Trails officials wanted to make their pathway 12 feet 
wide, Goodland said. The task force allowed the officials to meet and 
come to a consensus.

The largest project on the task force’s plate is the review and approval 
of the designs for the trail, Ritchie said.

The Towpath project has been in the works for about two years. The trail 
will follow the Wabash and Erie Canal path and is named for the mules 
that used to tow boats through the channel.

Trail planners hope to have the 6.8-mile pathway completed by late 2007, 
though they would like to have the first mile, between Smith Road and 
Engle Road, completed this year, Goodland said.

mzennie at jg.net