At last weeks Town Council meeting the Town Council approved a resolution to support the efforts of the Indiana Rails to Trails Council for a nationally recognized long distance bicycle route that will travel through Cicero. “There are multiple long distance cycling routes that travel through the Cicero area.” said Charlie Cambre, Parks Superintendent for the Town of Cicero. “It will be a great addition to our efforts to promote trails and recreation in Cicero and the County.”
Mario Vian, Policy Analyst for the Indiana Rails to Trails Council says, “Our current, most impressive project is to help connect America with a system of officially designated bicycle routes named the United States Bicycle Route System (USBRS). Currently we are working on USBR 35 projected to run from the State of Michigan through Indiana to Louisville and ending in New Orleans. The general route for USBR 35 in Indiana is from just south of Three Oaks, Michigan to Louisville, KY, passing through La Porte, Rochester, Peru, Kokomo, Tipton, Cicero, Noblesville, Carmel, Indianapolis, Shelbyville, Cumberland, Columbus, Scottsburg, Sellersburg, Clarksville and Jeffersonville.”
The route map traverses La Porte, Starke, Marshall, Pulaski, Fulton, Miami, Howard, Tipton, Hamilton, Marion, Shelby, Bartholomew, Jackson, Scott, Clark , and Floyd counties.
Rails to Trails Council, is an Indiana not-for-profit group that promotes trails throughout Indiana, working to get approvals or jurisdictional authority on bike routes through Indiana. The Indiana Rails to Trails Council and INDOT must collect authorizations from every jurisdiction that the route travels through in order that the route can receive official designation through AASHTO, the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, the ruling body that regulates road signs and street signals in the U.S. INDOT will be the body to officially submit the route approval application to AASHTO. Hoosier Rails to Trails Council, Inc (HRTC) is the focal point for the state-wide effort.
“This is great timing for Cicero. Biking, Recreation and Multi-Use pathways have be
en some of the key topics mentioned by the residents in our focus groups for the long range Comprehensive Plan we are currently updating,” said Paul Munoz, Plan Director for the Town of Cicero. “We hope that promoting this trail will help bring those cyclists to our community and see what we have to offer as they journey through Indiana.”
The entire route can be found on the Indiana Rails to Trails website, www.indianatrails.com/content/