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Shopping Guide News Wednesday, July 24, 2024
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Nickel Plate Trail getting extension through Rochester after 11 years Text and Photos By LEAH SANDER Staff Writer
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Those using the Nickel Plate Trail in Fulton County may travel further on it in the future. Rochester recently approved a bid by E&B Paving to extend the trail approximately eight-tenths of a mile from its current end at a gazebo near Wabash Avenue to the trail running by the Round Barn Golf Club along Ninth Street. The extension will travel from the gazebo to “west of the (railroad) tracks until it gets to 12th (Street) and then it will go down Park Street,” explained Rochester Mayor Trent Odell.
For motor vehicles, Park Street will become a one-way street, with the extension going across Ninth Street, connecting to the other trail. “That will take you a lot of different places (including downtown),” said Odell. He noted the project has been talked about for 11 years by leaders. “We always ran into an obstacle cutting through town because certain businesses didn’t want to give us the easements for the passageway,” Odell explained. He said plans are hopefully to install stop signs along 12th Street at Park Street “partly to slow down traffic and partly to ease the trail across right there.” Odell noted the benefits of the Nickel Plate extension. “If (people) know they can connect to downtown, I think we’ll see enhanced traffic, which will help our downtown businesses,” he said. “It’s always a point of topic at any of these economic development meetings about how important trails are to (a) community,” he said. E&B Paving’s bid was for $331,183, with the city choosing it over a separate bid from Phend and Brown, which was “significantly higher,” said Odell. The city has obtained an Indi-
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END OF THE TRAIL — A gazebo marks the end of the Nickel Plate Trail in Rochester.
RIDING THE NICKEL PLATE — Josh Weiland of Milford, riding in the front, and Michael Bowers of North Webster travel at the current end of the Nickel Plate Trail near Wabash Avenue in Rochester on Wednesday, July 17. Plans are to extend the trail from there across the city to the trail along the Round Barn Golf Club. ana Department of Natural Resources grant and hopes to get an Indiana Department of Transportation Community Crossings Matching Grant to pay for the project. Odell noted the city should be expending few of its own dollars in the process. “We’re kind of hoping that some of that construction will occur yet this year,” said Odell of the project timeline, stating it could be in the fall. “We’re hoping to get it finished by mid- to late summer next year.” He said as of now, there’s no plans to extend the trail farther.
ENJOYING THE RIDE — Steve Light of Warsaw nears the end of the Nickel Plate Trail in Rochester Wednesday, July 17.
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