NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- Work is just beginning on a project that will connect five counties and eight communities across southern Indiana by trails.
The Monon South Trail will follow the route of the historic Monon Railroad, starting in New Albany and spanning across Floyd, Clark, Washington, Orange and Lawrence counties.
Monon South Trail will be 62.3 miles long and cover five southern Indiana counties. (Indiana Department of Natural Resources map)
"It's absolutely gorgeous, absolutely fantastic public space, and we'll allow people to, again, connect with nature, connect with each other," said Jeff Gahan, New Albany mayor.
The railroad route travels through several communities including Borden, New Pekin, Salem, Campbellsburg, Saltillo, Orleans and Mitchell. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources said about 440,000 people live within 10 miles of the trail path.
New Albany's portion of the trail shows just the beginning of the project. Railroad tracks and ties have been removed.
"We are owners of a certain part, portion of the trail, and our responsibility is to plan it and get a lot of input from folks that will be using it," said Gahan.
Gahan said he expects construction of the trail to begin next summer.
"Our goal is to get done as fast as we possibly can and we have already jumped through quite a few hoops," he said.
Greenery will need to be cut back, and New Albany plans to pave its portion. Gahan expects the New Albany portion to have multiple trailheads and other amenities, such as restrooms, lighting and crosswalks.
Gahan said the trail will also connect to the Ohio River Greenway, but the connection point has not been decided at this time.
"We have an upper trail and a lower trail that covers our entire shoreline and moves into Clarksville, into Jeffersonville, and into Louisville, so that's all the entrance way into Metro Louisville," Gahan said. "So that's why the Greenway is such an important piece of this whole thing, I don't think if we weren't as far along on the Greenway, that this rails to trails would have never been a thing."
The progress on the South Monon Trail is welcomed news for people who spend plenty of time on the Greenway.
Dorothy Sedam of New Albany takes her grandson to the park near the New Albany Amphitheatre, and said the trail piques her interest.
"I'm one to see it and try to see how far I can go walking," Sedam said.
The history of the former railroad track dates back to 1836.
Officials said the trail's corridor "follows a road survey commissioned by the Indiana Internal Improvements Act of 1836," which was followed by the 1847 Indiana General Assembly's authorization of a private railroad to be built along the route. Then-Gov. James Whitcomb signed a proclamation which charted the New Albany and Salem Railroad, officials said. The railroad was constructed from the southern Indiana city to Michigan City by 1854, and adopted its "iconic Monon Railroad name" in 1956, according to the DNR.
CSXT "last operated trains on this section of the line" in 2008 before abandoning it in 2018.
The DNR led acquisition negotiations with CSX Transportation as part of the state's Next Level Trails initiative. Through a process called "railbanking," the city of New Albany and Radius Indiana "petitioned to negotiate with CSXT to acquire the out-of-service rail corridor" for recreational use as a trail.
Related Stories:
- New Albany awarded $6 million to build Indiana's largest recreational trail
- $29.5M to convert old rail lines into Indiana's longest recreational trail, starting in New Albany
Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
