Schneider Engineering revealed a timetable for the completion of the Heritage Trail project at a Feb. 6 public hearing.
“The intent is to have everything in place so, as soon as the weather breaks in the spring of 2014, things can go,” said Michael Krosschell, a representative of Schneider Engineering.
Between now and then, the Town of Ellettsville will need to hire someone to acquire the land necessary to build a 12-foot-wide asphalt trail that will run from the Ellettsville Town Hall parking lot to the east end of the split in State Road 46.
According to Krosschell, that means the town will have to acquire commercial and residential property along the planned path of the trail and the land occupied by the old railroad tracks. It is unclear, however, who owns that land.
The Town of Ellettsville is expected to hire a firm to begin the process of land acquisition within the next 60 days. Once the firm has appraised the values of the properties in question, it will report back to the town, at which point the town will begin making offers on the properties.
So far, it has cost $59,585 for the engineering services provided by Schneider Engineering, as well as concurrent surveying services provided by Bynum Fanyo. The rest of the project – right-of-way, trail construction, and bridge construction – has an estimated price tag of $266,189.
The federal government has provided two grants to the Town of Ellettsville, one for the bridge and one for the trail. Together, they will cover 80% of the cost by reimbursement. The other 20% for the trail will be raised by Ellettsville Main Street. The nonprofit has already raised the $42,000 needed to pay the 20% for phase I of the trail and another $25,000 toward the construction of the bridge. Another $30,000 is needed for the bridge.
The trail began in 2000 as a landscape architecture student’s senior thesis for Ball State University.
Barry Fisher proposed a trail that would celebrate Ellettsville’s historic relationship with Indiana limestone and run by local limestone landmarks such as the Matthews Mansion and Bybee Stone.
Ellettsville Main Street directors Jeana Kapczynski and Chris Fisher (the mother of Barry Fisher) have been working to make that idea a reality ever since.
“The four-lane wasn’t there yet. We didn’t know what was going to be in between. They were just starting to talk about widening the highway. There was an abandoned railroad there,” Kapczynski said of the year they began.
Between 2000 and 2005, construction to turn SR 46 into a four-lane highway brought progress on the Heritage Trail to a halt, even though some grants had already been acquired. Uncertainty about the land in between the east- and west-bound split around “old Ellettsville” made it impossible to plan ahead.
Ten years later, the Town of Ellettsville had entered into written agreements with Ellettsville Main Street and the Bloomington Metropolitan Planning Organization to begin developing the trail as part of Monroe County’s transportation improvement plan.
Though that was three years ago, Kapczynski said, “(the process is) moving a lot faster now, even though a year at a time is not fast in most people’s time frame.”
Over the next year, Ellettsville Main Street will work to raise the additional $30,000 required to pay for Ellettsville’s part in the construction of the new bridge. The Town of Ellettsville will work on acquiring the land needed to build the trail. Construction will begin in early 2014 and is estimated to be completed by fall of that year.
Though the bridge and this section of trail will be finished next year, they represent only a small portion of the total project.
Beyond 2014, Kapczynski said the Heritage Trail is likely to connect with the Karst Greenway at the planned YMCA on Vernal Pike in Bloomington. She added that the county is likely going to connect the trail to the B-Line Trail in downtown Bloomington, as well, as part of the county’s alternative transportation system.
“You’ve got to have a long-term plan. You’ve got to have a vision. You’ve got to know what you’re shooting for or you won’t get anything done,” Kapczynski said.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2013. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.