B&O Info Desk>News Updates>Brownsburg Trailhead

County and State Governments Update Plans (April 2006) - This year, both the Hendricks County and the Indiana State governments are updating official planning documents that can impact the development and management of the B&O Trail.

In Hendricks County, the Comprehensive Plan is the guiding document for government decisions on development and land use. This Plan was last updated in 1998 and included the proposed B&O Trail route as a bikeway and park linkage. One example of the benefit of this early planning is the county's construction of the B&O Trail tunnel under the new Ronald Reagan Parkway.

In early 2006, the Hendricks County Planning and Building Department began the process of updating the Comprehensive Plan in order to better manage the rapid growth that the county is currently experiencing. This process included stakeholder meetings in mid February and public input meetings in early March. Board members from the B&O Trail Association (BOTA) and the Hendricks County Trail Development Association (HCTDA) participated in both of these sets of meetings and encouraged the county to expand development of facilities for non-motorized transportation and recreation in the future.

The next opportunities for public input will be in a series of Public Prioritization Workshops at 6:30 PM on April 10, 12, and 20 at the New Winchester Christian Church, Avon Town Hall, and Danville Town Hall, respectively. Completion of the Comprehensive Plan update is expected by the end of September.

At the state level, a similar process is underway to update the state trails master plan. In the past, this has been a good reference document for the Indiana Department of Transportation, Department of Natural Resources, and other state agencies on the status of trails in Indiana. This year a new emphasis is being placed on making it a stronger tool for coordinating development and management of a connected network of trails around the state, partly in response to Governor Daniels' new In-Shape initiative for healthier Hoosiers.

A key part of this new emphasis by the state is the Governor's appointment of Ray Irvin to the new position of "INDOT Director of Greenways & Bikeways". In his previous positions as Indianapolis city councilman and as Director of Indy Greenways, Ray was the driving force behind the impressive greenways network expansion in Indianapolis over the past 15 years. In his new position, Ray is promoting the state's goal of public/private partnerships to expand utility connections, such as water, farm waste, and other services, between communities, and to share these corridors with multi-use trails to provide non-motorized transportation connections at a reduced cost.