Meeting today to discuss Greenway Corridor plan

Bloomington City Parks and Recreation Department will hold a meeting today to discuss Mayor Mark Kruzan's Greenway Corridor plan to turn an old railroad into a new nature park and trail system.\n"We're going to take this barrier and turn it into an asset," said Mick Renneisen, director of the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.\nThe meeting will give citizens an opportunity to tell the city what they think of the project and how they would use it, Renneisen said. It is also a chance to express what amenities they want on the trail, such as benches or water fountains.\nThe trail will be built in five phases. When completed, it will be 3.2 miles long and run from Country Club Drive to Adams Street. The first half-mile section will run through the downtown area.\nIt will connect to the already existing Clear Creek Trail and the Bloomington Rail Trail. \nThe city received a $5.4 million federal grant for the project, but that won't pay for all the costs, said Dave Williams, project manager for the Greenway Corridor. The first section should be designed by spring 2006 with construction beginning in early 2007.\nThe railroad corridor is currently owned by CSX. The city is planning to purchase land that ranges from 22 to 200 feet in width, and it will be more than just a trail in many places, Williams said. The "linear park" should include places for people to gather and hold events.\nThe trail is also part of the Kruzan's larger plan of economic development for the city, Renneisen said. It will connect the rest of the Bloomington to downtown and provide a way for people to travel downtown without using cars.\nBesides making it easier to travel downtown, the trail could stimulate businesses to fill abandoned buildings along the route, Renneisen said. Also, the mostly weeded area behind the buildings by the trail will be developed, making the city more pleasing aesthetically. \nThe city has not bought the CSX railway corridor yet -- they have an "agreement in principle," Williams said, but the mayor felt comfortable moving ahead with the project.\nIn the early 1900s, the railroad brought manufactured goods in and out of downtown Bloomington. Since then, Bloomington's manufacturing has moved to the outskirts of the city, and railroad shipping has been replaced by other methods.\nCSX could not make a profit from the railroad anymore and applied to the state to abandon it. The previous administration, as well as Kruzan's, saw this as an opportunity to fulfill one of the desires of the city.\nIn a survey conducted by Bloomington, the No. 1 form of recreation was walking for pleasure, and the No. 1 improvement citizens wanted the city to build were trails, Renneisen said.\nFor more information, contact the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department at 349-3700.