HANCOCK COUNTY — The Pennsy Trail is expanding for the first time in over a decade, with a segment of its next phase under construction and property secured to join it up with the path that goes all the way to Indianapolis.
The nonprofit organization Pennsy Trails of Hancock County, which is responsible for the design of the trail, worked with Hancock County to pay a total of $137,018 to prepare for the next section, between County Roads 500W and 600W. When it’s completed, it will link to the existing Pennsy Trail that runs through Cumberland and the east side of Indianapolis.
This new section of the trail was made possible by a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The department awarded Pennsy Trails $670,802 for the design and construction of the 500W/600W section, which will be 1.3 miles long. It will link to another new section under construction between County Roads 500W and 400W.
The goal is to eventually link to the trail from Greenfield, whose terminus is currently at County Road 150W. The trail generally follows the old Pennsylvania Railroad bed, parallel to U.S. 40.
DNR director Dan Bortner said at the time of the grant announcement that a variety of factors was considered when choosing the recipients of the grants, such as whether governments proposing trails were partnering with community organizations and whether proposed trails would connect two communities. A total of 62 applications were submitted, and 18 grants were made.
The engineering firm WSP USA Inc. was awarded the contract by the county to design the section. The Hancock County Highway Department will construct the trail as part of the local match for the DNR grant.
Construction of the trail section is expected to be completed by July 2022, Pennsy Trails board president Mary Ann Wietbrock said.
The path will take an unusual route. Instead of following the old rail bed directly east, a section will go south on 600W before bearing back east to 500W. From there, the trail will head back north. Marked crossings on 600W and 500W are planned.
The section running east from 500W to 400W already is under construction. It will run from near the Sugar Creek Township fire station on 500W to connect with a new trailhead a mile east. This section of the trail will skirt the Meadow Lake Estates/Havens neighborhood to its south and the Washington Village Apartments to its north. It also passes through a wooded area.
“A trailhead has been designed at 400W… to provide shelter and environmental signs to highlight the Sugar Creek Watershed Project,” Wietbrock wrote in an email. “This site will have handicap parking and will be available for students, Scouts, families and adults to understand how to restore and manage vital wildlife habitat.”
Much of the trail work has been funded by grants from the state and federal government.
Pennsy Trails spent $60,801 on land purchases for the 500W/400W section, according to numbers provided by the Hancock County auditor’s office. DNR contributed $127,000 toward land purchases.
The trails received a federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant construction of that trail section totaling $550,400, and the county in spending $137,600. Work is expected to be completed later this summer.
For the creation of the trailhead area at 400W, Pennsy Trails used a combination of funds from a Hancock County Community Foundation grant and another grant from Duke Energy. Eagle Scout projects are also helping develop the trailhead, which will be completed once construction is done on the trail section. Plans for the trailhead include picnic tables, educational signs, paved parking and space for a portable restroom.
The work on the trail sections will be the most extensive expansions of the Pennsy Trail in Hancock County in years. The Cumberland section of the trail, extending from German Church Road to 600W, was completed in 2010. Paths heading east out of Irvington now link with it. The Greenfield section of the trail, running from 150W to County Road 400E, was completed in 1998.