Trail season almost here: Miami Valley offers places to ride

A mild winter in the Miami Valley has more than flowers getting ready for spring. Residents across the region are looking forward to getting back on their bicycles for fun, health and transportation. The Miami Valley has great places to ride for cyclists of all levels of experience and confidence — there is a place to ride for anyone and everyone.

The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission and our many partners are working to improve cycling across the region and bring residents resources to help them find their ride. Later this spring, MVRPC will release the sixth edition of the Miami Valley Trails Map & Guide. This incredibly popular map gets a refresh every three years, and a print run of over 100,000 copies to be distributed free across the region. As in past years, our primary distribution partners will be park districts: Five Rivers MetroParks, Greene County Parks & Trails, Miami County Park District, Clark County Park District, National Trail Parks and Recreation District, Centerville-Washington Park District, and the Darke County Park District. A limited supply will be available from bike shops, convention and visitors bureaus, and public libraries as well.

The map highlights the Miami Valley Trails — the nation’s largest paved trail network with over 350 miles of connected, safe, public trails crossing 10 counties in the Miami Valley. From Cincinnati to Bellefontaine, from Piqua to Franklin, with “hubs” in Dayton and Xenia, the Miami Valley Trails offer flat terrain and the safety of being completely separated from motor traffic. The map has promoted our trails across the country. MVRPC has received requests for the map from over 40 states and Canada.

The map has a companion web site, www.miamivalleytrails.org, maintained by MVRPC and partners including Park Districts and

CVBs, which invites you to learn about and explore more of our region’s treasure, the Miami Valley Trails. The site complements the printed map with more detail about sights, camping, and breweries along the trails, plus links to our Visitors Bureau partners’ websites for complete lists of restaurants and lodging. Together the Map and the Miami Valley Trails website showcase our region’s truly world-class bike trails.

The trails make safe and enjoyable connections between communities of the Miami Valley — and increasingly, those communities themselves are more and more bike-friendly. Bike lanes, local bike trails, and walkable and bike friendly downtowns can be found all across the Miami Valley. These local networks connect residents to parks, schools, and shops as well as the trails and make bike transportation a safe, convenient and fun option. MVRPC ensures the network of bicycle-friendly streets continues to grow throughout the region with our Regional Complete Streets Policy, which requires that the major roadway projects we fund include safe space for bicyclists and pedestrians. MVRPC also sponsors safety awareness campaigns to educate cyclists about safe cycling.

All this work by communities and MVRPC is paying off. The League of American Bicyclists has conferred bronze-level “Bike Friendly Community” awards to six communities in our region: Beavercreek, Dayton, Piqua, Springboro, Troy, and Yellow Springs. MVRPC partners with Bike Miami Valley to encourage more communities to apply for and be recognized for the work they are doing to educate cyclists and motorists, encourage cycling and build safe and connected bikeway networks.

Working together with the Ohio Department of Transportation, communities, and advocates we are building a truly bike-friendly region.