B&O Info Desk>First Corridor Property Bought

First Corridor Property Bought (April 2004) - Rail Corridor Development, Inc. and the Hendricks County Trail Development Association would like to announce that they are the proud owners of one mile of corridor!

This is a major victory for the organizations as this is the very first acquisition of any part of the corridor that we have recorded as the owners at the courthouse. The fact that our mile is in three different segments and up to 19 miles apart didn't diminish the enthusiasm at all.

The Indianapolis Airport Authority Inc. donated to RCDI a quit claim of the B&O abandoned corridor at the former Speedway Airport location in eastern Hendricks County. The determination of the class action lawsuit indicated that this segment of the corridor belonged to the adjacent landowner. Thus, we became the recipients of 1/2 of the corridor all along the former airport site. As a matter of interest, this portion of the trail will cross the new Ronald Reagan Parkway being built by the county. An agreement was reached with Hendricks County to take the new highway up and over the trail. A tunnel very similar to the ones on the Monon Trail in Carmel and the Cardinal Trail in Marion will be installed.

Similar class action ownership scenarios made us the owners of the south half of the corridor adjacent to our 58 acre North Salem Trail Head and at the Cedar Run development near Raceway Road.

RCDI and HCTDA are looking forward to more land acquisition in the near future. Our partner in Marion County, Indy Greenways, is also in the process of acquiring land. The three agencies have signed an agreement to start trail development at the county line in order to get a successful demonstration trail on the ground in both counties.