DaytonDailyNews.com

It's the high season for cycling in the Miami Valley, and it seems a good time to take stock of what's happening out there on the bike paths.

First, the good news.

Construction will begin next month on an important 7½ mile section of trail along the Great Miami River that will connect Triangle Park to Taylorsville MetroPark north of Interstate 70.

The new trail section, to be completed by next summer, will run northwest from Triangle Park along the river, then cut north along Kittyhawk Golf Course before coming back to connect to existing trail that ends just south of the Rip Rap Road bridge.

"You'll be able to ride from downtown Dayton all the way through Taylorsville MetroPark," said Carrie Scarff, deputy director of Five Rivers MetroParks. "That's a great connection to have."

Alas, another great connection was yanked away from the parks district last winter.

The district had planned to start construction this summer on an extension of the Mad River Trail from Eastwood MetroPark out to Huffman MetroPark. The environmental studies were done and the money was secured to buy the right of way and build the trail when the Norfolk Southern railroad, after two years of negotiations, decided not to sell, Scarff said.

Two rail lines once operated on the corridor that runs up past Enon and on to Springfield, but now only one track is used for freight trains. The park district wanted to buy right of way on the abandoned track to build the trail. There were plans to eventually run the trail all the way up to Enon.

"Norfolk Southern gave us the indication they were willing to sell, and it would just be a matter of price," Scarff said.

But then other departments within the railroad company raised safety concerns. They were getting increased traffic, Scarff said, and there was the possibility — however remote — that high speed passenger service could run there.

Efforts to reach Norfolk Southern on Thursday were unsuccessful.

In addition, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, which is studying the feasibility of passenger rail service in the state, weighed in with concerns that the corridor wasn't wide enough for all three uses.

So the park district has gone back to the drawing board and is working on an alternative route to at least get to Huffman MetroPark. But that project is now at least two years away.

The whole thing has bike advocate Tom Recktenwalt irate.

The retired Wright-Patterson Air Force Base worker who runs a Web site on bike trails in the area, miamivalleytrails.org, has posted a page demanding the completion of the Three Counties trail up past Enon and urging bike riders to write their congressmen.

"I just got fed up with Norfolk Southern and the rails commission," Recktenwalt said.

Another project that riders along the Great Miami want to see completed soon is the repair of the trail washout by the Tait Station low dam just south of Carillon Park.

Contractors have been working on the trail there for more than six weeks, but found more damage than anticipated, said Hans Landefeld, of the Miami Conservancy District. The work should be finished by the end of the month or early August.

One last piece of good news: You've still got more than 200 miles of perfectly good trails out there awaiting your wheels.