[IndianaTrails] FW: DNR News -- Westfield starts work on Monon extension

[Melody Sweat]

Melody Sweat,

Park Director City of Westfield

2706 East 171st Street

Westfield, IN 46074

317-896-5452 ext 150

317-339-9068 cell

317-867-0202 fax

 

 

________________________________

Subject:        DNR News -- Westfield starts work on Monon extension 

Westfield starts work on Monon extension 
City envisions trail eventually leading to renovated downtown 
 Tania E. Lopez <mailto:tania.e.lopez at indystar.com> , Indianapolis Star
October 14, 2008 

 

Steve and Kristen Poynts have been waiting for the Monon Trail to reach
their Westfield neighborhood for eight years. 
The couple live in the Westfield Farms subdivision near where Carmel's
Monon Greenway ends at 146th Street, but they never use it because they
find it difficult to get to with four small children, ages 7 years to 8
months. Now that Westfield has started extending the trail north, it
will practically be in their backyard.

"I've been waiting for them to do it," said Kristen, 30, as she manned a
garage sale at her home Monday afternoon. "It's hard for us with four
kids. But I think people want it there because they'll use it."

The 10-mile Monon Trail runs from 10th Street to 96th Street in Marion
County and continues into Hamilton County, where it connects with the
five-mile Monon Greenway. Westfield's trail will be three miles long by
next spring, and possibly eight miles long within five years.

Westfield began constructing the first leg of its portion of the trail
Friday. The one-mile section is now being built from 146th Street north
to 156th Street.

The first section -- paid for with a $1.5 million grant from the federal
government and a $250,000 grant from Lilly Endowment -- is expected to
be completed by the end of November, said Carrie Cason, the city's
community relations director.

The second leg, which is scheduled to be completed by next spring, would
extend the trail north for about two more miles from 161st Street to
Ind. 32. A $900,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources will
cover this portion.

Cason said the city received the federal grant in 2002, and the longer
timeline has generated more fees and a higher cost for the first leg.

The section from 156th Street to 161st Street was paved by Precedent
Cos., a private developer that built Viking Meadows subdivision. Company
founder Howard Peterson, 78, donated 13 acres for the trail. Peterson,
Westfield, is the father of former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.

Within the next five years, Westfield officials hope to extend the Monon
to 216th Street, Cason said. A loop of the trail from 161st will wind
off the path northeast to Union Street to connect with the Midland Trace
Trail in Westfield's renovated downtown.

Cason said the timeline for this portion depends upon the completion of
the U.S. 31 upgrade; the development of Lantern Commons, the city's
first major mall at 161st Street and U.S. 31; and the city's plans for
redeveloping its downtown.

Extending the Monon Trail into Westfield is a first step in what local
leaders see as critical to the city's economic future.

The idea is to create a Grand Junction Plaza, a downtown destination hot
spot, where an intersection of the Monon and the east-west Midland trail
will connect in the next five years.

"The goal of what we're doing is to create a downtown that is the
centerpiece of community life in Westfield," said Jim Anderson,
co-chairman of a private group of residents who've been brainstorming
the project.

Anderson views Westfield's new downtown as a trails community with "as
little vehicular conflict as possible," where residents can walk, bike,
run or operate golf carts from their neighborhoods.

As David, 52, and Lori Pierson, 37, Carmel, walked on the trail Monday
near Rohrer Road, they said they looked forward to one day visiting
Westfield's new downtown.

The couple run, walk, bike or skate on the Monon Greenway at least once
a day. 
"We think it's great," David Pierson said. "We're looking forward to
that extension because we'd be able to go all the way to Broad Ripple
and all the way to Ind. 32 in one day." 
 
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