TIPTON — The Tipton Park Board received part of $1.3 million in trail grants from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Friday.
Steve Raber, park board president, said the $150,000 received will help fund the first of two phases of trail development in and around the town park.
When complete, he said, the first phase will be a half-mile paved trail, 8 feet wide, from the park pavilion, past Tipton County Hospital and ending at the Tipton County 4-H Fairgrounds. It will be a multi-use trail, meaning people on foot, bicycles, inline skates and motorized wheelchairs will be able to use it.
It will also include a canoe launch in the creek in the park, he said.
He said the grant provides 80 percent of the funding, and the park board has secured the other 20 percent from the city, Tipton County Foundation and the Tipton County Hospital Foundation, among others.
Raber said hospital officials also have agreed to give access to hospital property for the trail.
He said the trail passes the hospital, Autumnwood Village assisted-living facility and Miller’s Merry Manor, and residents will have trail access.
There are other benefits to the trail, he added.
“When there are events at the 4-H fairgrounds, it gives kids a safe route without having to be on the highway. It also allows people to park in the park and walk to the fairgrounds if they wish.”
Raber said with funding in place, the park board can start the required environmental studies. Construction could begin this fall, depending on how quickly the environmental studies are done.
Once construction begins, Raber said, contractors “assure us that once we get under way, it will be a quick process to put down the blacktop.”
The second phase will include another three-quarters of a mile of trail along the creek, as well as another canoe launch, Raber said.
He said park board members are very excited to receive the grant.
“This has been on our five-year plan for some time.”
Tipton’s trail was one of six local trail projects and four state off-highway vehicle projects approved for grant funding Friday.
The goal of the projects is to increase recreational trail opportunities in line with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ 10-year plan, which calls for every Hoosier to be within 15 minutes of a trail.
The grants come from the federal Recreational Trails Program, which gives a portion of the federal transportation bill to each of the 50 states annually.
Danielle Rush may be reached at (765) 454-8585 or via e-mail at danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com
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