By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – Officials with the Wabash River Trail hope their work in Lagro is the start of a revitalization of the town’s downtown area.
So much so, the group is investing in more than just a trail through town. It also is creating a public restroom facility, as well as a pavilion downtown that can be used during such things as the Lagro Good Ole Days festival.
WRT President Amy Ford and Treasurer Justin Gillespie, along with Christine Flohr, director of Visit Wabash County, provided a tour of the Lagro portion of the trail for The Paper of Wabash County on Friday, Feb. 10, then sat down for a 45-minute interview to discuss the Lagro leg and other aspects of the 33-mile trail.
Lagro work
Work in Lagro began around August 2016. One mile of the trail, which includes a portion that leads to the Lagro Community Center, has been paved so far.
“We’ve got about a mile and a half ready to go,” Ford said. “We couldn’t get it paved in November.
“(Paving) work will resume when the asphalt plant reopens.”
Plants should be open around March, officials said. But in the meantime work is continuing on landscaping along the trail. That includes placing giant rocks along the side, serving as a retaining wall along the north side of the trail.
Before that work could begin, officials had to clear the area. Volunteers have pulled about 10,000 pounds of trash from the site.
“We stumbled onto piles of junk,” Gillespie said. “You name it … there were piles of shingles, water heaters …”
In addition, a great deal of brush had to be removed from the trail site.
Working with landowners
The area that is now part of the trail is municipally owned. In the meanwhile, the committee is working with landowners who have agreed to allow the trail cross their property to determine where to place the trail along the landowners’ property.
“We’re working with surveyors so we know exactly how much we need to purchase,” Ford said, congratulating the landowners who have chosen to let the trail through their land.
Gillespie noted that the committee works closely with landowners formulating written agreements so each knows who is liable for what along the trail.
“We have listed out who is liable for what,” he said, “What protection property owners have. There are statutes out there … state statutes.
“If a person goes down a trail and for whatever reason stumbles and twists and ankle, the property owner is not liable. That’s a public access easement, so the property owner is not liable. If somebody came, stepped off the trail onto private property, slipped and broke an ankle, (property owners) are still not liable because they got access to your property – even though they’re technically trespassing at that point – they gained access through a public right-of-way, so they’re not liable at that point.
“Now, if the property owner were to booby trap their property with death pits or something, people would walk in, fall in hole and break their leg, at that point the property owner is liable because they intentionally tried to do something to harm trail users.”
Repair & maintenance
The trail committee, Gillespie continued, also is responsible for repairing and maintaining the trail once built.
“That’s on us,” he said. “We have to set up a committee for maintenance. We have a safety committee set up to decide what signs to put up for hazardous areas. If the trail is going to make a ninety-degree turn, we have to make sure that it’s posted so people know the trail is going to stop and they have to make a turn.
“There will be contact information (for the maintenance committee) so if there’s a tree down…”
The person in charge of maintenance will be a paid position, committee members said, but added the more people willing to volunteer the better.
“There’s always volunteers,” Ford said. “Trails – people just become so involved with them and care for them. The more people you have involved with them, with the building and taking care of them and pulling trash out, it starts to become something that they cherish and they want to go out and help.”
Many trails, they noted, have Friends of the Trail groups set up to do just that.
Security cameras will be set up at certain spots along the trail.
“There will be in this area because we’re going to have a really nice bathroom facility, we’ve got some really nice walls, so yes, there will be a security system,” Ford said.
But the system likely will not be extended along the entire trail.
“I can’t think of any trail that has a full security system,” she said. “It’s just like walking down the sidewalk or along a street. You have to be smart about when you’re going to use the trail, just like you have to be smart about when you’re going to walk downtown or when you’re going to walk along a county road.
“It’s a little bit of common sense. I can’t promise we’re going to have security all the way. It’s just not feasible.”
Trail cost
The national average for building a trail is roughly $1 million per mile. However, Ford said, that includes trails in places such as Chicago and New York City, where costs are higher.
“We won’t be anywhere close to that,” Ford said. “I mean, I can’t give you what our price is going to be yet. We haven’t gotten enough done yet. In our budget, we put in things because so many things are unforeseen. We don’t know what we’re going to get when we get to some of the crossings, the bridges, what kind of culverts, what kind of bridge, what are we doing here? We don’t know some of those costs yet because we’re not into that.”
Funding is primarily coming from private sources, the committee said. However, trail officials are making a presentation to the Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority for $960,236 grant from the Road to One Million Project.
“That’s our tax dollars,” Ford said. “We have every right to get our share out of that. If not, it’s going to go to Huntington County … Allen County, Noble County. We’re just part of the eleven (counties), and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t get some of that back.”
The funds are designed to help with economic development, and Flohr and the committee members believe the trail will help bring further development along the 32-mile route.
“That’s one reason I even got involved with this project,” Gillespie said. “I’m from Lagro; I’m a lifer. I saw this project as an opportunity to really help Lagro. We already have people that come through town to go to Salamonie. There are a few historical landmarks around that they come to see.
“I saw this trail as something to add to that, especially between Wabash and Lagro. If you can get people going back and forth, you’re drawing more attention to your area.”
Gillespie said he has friends that live near Indianapolis who travel around Indiana to take advantage of the existing trail systems.
“I just thought it was a really neat benefit for this town,” he continued. “People need to take advantage of that, too. You can’t put a trail in and not have investors look at it and say, ‘Maybe I should put a café back in town because we’re going to have more people.’
“And it’s not just a biking and jogging trail. We had a canoe launch, but it was not in the best order. We fixed it up and make it easier for people getting in and out of the water. Maybe make a spot that’s easier for people to get to the river for fishing. That’s all part of our project to look at there.”
Why another trail?
The county already has a 100-mile biking trail. However, that trail is along a county road, Flohr and Ford noted.
“It’s all shared with vehicular traffic,” Flohr said.
Ford added, “It’s safer access. Have you ever been on a trail with a little kid? You wouldn’t want, like a five-year-old out on these roads because they don’t know how to ride straight.”
The existing trail, she said, “is a vehicular trail that bikes use. And this trail is probably not going to be for your serious, serious cyclists. They’re going to go out on the road, anyway. It’s for families. It’s not just a bike trail. It’s for canoeists and kayakers and runners.”
The rest of the trail
The full design of the 32-mile trail is not yet set.
“The only design that is mostly set is between Wabash and Lagro,” Ford said. “It has always been in phases. No trail gets done like in one big chunk. It’s all one big chunk that try to get connected.”
While the design isn’t set, the committee has hopes of how the trail will continue.
“From here, I would imagine we would use Schmalzried Road or East River Road to get to Huntington, because that road, the river is right there and it’s minimally traveled,” Ford said. “To the west, we’ll probably go up Carroll Street Hill, out Mill Creek Pike, over to Cooper Road, over to 550 East, out to Elliott Road. It’s roadways for now.
“Until and or if we have willing landowners. That’s the key; it’s willing landowners. We’re not taking anybody’s land. No one can sell us land if they don’t want. But if they do want to sell it, then that’s their option and that’s their right.”
Eminent domain will not be imposed on those not willing to sell their land, committee members said.
“I live in this community,” Ford said. “Why would I want that?”
Gillespie added, “Being a landowner, I know what that would be like. We don’t want eminent domain. If we can’t work with the property owners, then we’ll have to find another way to go. If they are interested in working with us, then we’ll collaborate with them.”
Landowners will have a say as to where on their property the trail would go.
“We’re not saying, ‘We’re going to put it here or no where,’” Gillespie continued. “’Do you want it here, here, here, here, what works best for you? What works best for everybody?’”
He said the committee hopes to keep the trail as close to the edge of properties as possible so it doesn’t disrupt day-to-day activities, especially along farmland.
What’s next?
Once the Lagro portion of the trail is complete – in addition to waiting for asphalt, the committee is awaiting for approval from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for approval on two permits – the panel will then determine where to go next.
The group will be looking for “the path of least resistance,” Ford said. “That’s why we started in Lagro. We’ve had several meetings with the board and they embraced this project. It was well, ‘Let’s start here because this will show what it can look like and what it can be.’
“There was no way we could get everyone on board at one time. You have to start where there’s a path of least resistance.”