Since 2009, the City of Kokomo has put a major emphasis on the development of a trails system as it seeks to make the city more walkable and inviting to demographics such as Millennials.
City engineer Carey Stranahan gave a presentation during Thursday night’s Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light meeting at Christ Lutheran Church explaining the city’s efforts to develop the trailways and what the future might hold.
“It’s recreational, and it’s used for people who want to work out, and we hope it’s used for people who want to get from point A to point B,” Stranahan said. “It’s also an educational experience, too, we hope. We’re working on improvements to make all three of those aspects of our trails better.”
The concept of “rails to trails” involves old railways that are no longer in operation being turned into trail systems. The Nickel Plate Trail which extends through Peru in both directions for a total of 37 miles is a prime example.
Kokomo has spent the last five years developing the Industrial Heritage Trail, which begins at the far north end of the city where Indiana 931 and Washington Street split, and extends down to Northside Little League. There’s a few blocks between Morgan and Jefferson Street where the trail hasn’t been developed yet due to ongoing negotiations with railway owners, but the trail picks back up at Jefferson Street and extends through the heart of downtown, passing right in front of the courthouse.
From there, it extends over Wildcat Creek and connects with the Walk of Excellence before continuing south, crossing over Markland Avenue at Main Street and running parallel to Home Avenue before extending along the back side of the American Legion Golf Course.
Currently, it ends behind a building which was once occupied by Damon’s Grill and Sports Bar on Reed Road. Although there are no firm plans yet, the city hopes to eventually extend the trail down to at least Center Road. With the way the railway system is set up, Stranahan said, it is possible that Kokomo may someday be connected to Indianapolis via trailways.
Stranahan also said there is the potential to extend a trailway to Russiaville beginning at the intersection of Madison and Washington streets, but it would require Norfolk Southern to abandon portions of its railway.
The Industrial Heritage Trail was created with the hopes of someday connecting it with the Nickel Plate. That now seems to be headed towards becoming a reality.
To the north, there are plans to connect the Nickel Plate with the Industrial Heritage Trail with a pedestrian bridge over 931, Stranahan said. That won’t likely be done until the summer of 2017 as the city waits for federal grant money through the Transportation Enhancement Program to come through.
“It’s the same process we went through for the Dixon Road reconstruction project,” Stranahan said. “It’s a long, arduous process. There’s an environmental approval that needed to be done. Now we’re in a right-of-way acquisition phase.”
The city owns the 931 corridor, but will need to acquire a small piece of land from FCA US LLC (formerly Chrysler Group) to allow for the bridge to cross over the highway in a perpendicular manner.