Funds targeted for trail system
December 16, 2008 @ 10:21 PM
LAURA WILCOX
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Planning and fundraising continue for a 26-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail system that advocates hope to see get started in the spring.
Word could come within the next few weeks whether the project will receive some or all of the more than $1.6 million in funds that have been requested to create the Paul Ambrose Trail for Health (or PATH), said Bob Plymale, director and chief executive officer of the Rahall Transportation Institute.
Local matches of more than $340,000 have been pledged, according to information from the institute.
The network of fitness trails will extend from Westmoreland to Guyandotte on the north and south sides of the city with connectors running east and west to connect the two sides to each and other and the downtown area.
The trail's namesake is the late son of local retirees Kenneth and Sharon Ambrose. Paul Ambrose was a young doctor who was killed at the Pentagon in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He died on American Airlines Flight 77 at age 32.
Plymale said the PATH project continues to be important, especially considering an Associated Press article last month calling the Huntington area the nation's "unhealthiest."
"That report heightened what we need to be doing in our region," said Plymale, a state senator.
Sharon Ambrose said she and her husband continue to be excited about the project. They agreed it may be more important now than ever, considering the state's poor health statistics. She said her son would be pleased by the local efforts.
Paul Ambrose was a senior clinical adviser for the surgeon general and was working on a project for rural health and obesity at the time of his death.
"He was such an advocate for exercise and improved diet and he practiced what he preached. He rode his bike, he swam, he worked out, and he encouraged everyone to do the same. I just know he would be thrilled to know about this commitment to the PATH," she said.
The Rahall Transportation Institute Foundation, in association with the City of Huntington and various community members, designed the trail system to incorporate many of Huntington's amenities and workplaces to allow citizens an alternate means of transportation.
The system will provide a great opportunity to exercise and enjoy the Ohio River, as a portion of the trail will run along the floodwall, said Brie Salmons, project management specialist at the Rahall Transportation Institute.
"It's really nice to look at the river that way," she said.
Both that section and the proposed trail along Four Pole Creek will give people the opportunity to exercise safely without worrying about traffic, Salmons said.
Safe places to run, walk and bike are a must for the Huntington area, said Dr. Tom Dannals, a member of the task force supporting the system. He said every successful town in the country has a nice park and trail system.
Dannals said Ritter Park is great, but statistics show that people use trails more often when they live within a mile of them.
He also said the incorporation of the floodwall and river will be beneficial.
"There's going to be people who've lived in Huntington for years who will be up there saying, 'Look at this. I've never seen Huntington like this before,'" he said.
Salmons said organizers continue to apply for grants and raise funds for the project that may total around $2 million. She said a "yard sale" is ongoing and invites people to purchase a yard of the PATH for $150. Individuals or businesses may also purchase other items or annual memberships to become Friends of the PATH.
Plymale said the city, county, and even state officials continue to be behind the project.
"I think that everybody really realizes the significance of moving forward and how we have to move forward," he said. "This is exciting when we have all these groups working together to accomplish what we all know we need to."
Dannals said the trails are not just a nice idea, but they are necessary to move the area in the right direction.
"It's going to mean everything to Huntington," he said. "We need everybody really involved."
More information is available at www.paulambrosetrailforhealth.org/.
New trail system named for Sept. 11 victim
May 01, 2008 @ 10:14 PM
By JEAN TARBETT HARDIMAN
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- The Rahall Transportation Institute unveiled Thursday the name and logo for a new network of fitness trails that will stretch from the Altizer community to Ceredo-Kenova.
Designed by the institute with the help of a task force of community members, the trails network will be called PATH, the Paul Ambrose Trail for Health.
The namesake is the late son of local retirees Kenneth and Sharon Ambrose. Paul Ambrose was a promising young doctor who was killed at the Pentagon in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He died on American Airlines Flight 77 at age 32.
"It's perfect," Sharon Ambrose said. "He was always into running and exercising and promoting it for everyone else."
A Barboursville High School graduate, Ambrose studied at Marshall's School of Medicine, did his residency at Dartmouth College and earned a master's in public health from Harvard.
Focused on family health and preventative medicine, he had spent a year studying health care in Spain. He also served as national legislative director to the American Medical Student Association, and on the congressional advisory committee for the Council on Graduate Medical Education. He was senior clinical advisor to former U.S. Surgeon General David Hatcher and served as the senior scientist in federal research on the escalation of obesity in the United States.
Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop was a mentor for Ambrose and has been quoted as saying, "I have no doubt Paul would have gone on to roles of surgeon general of the United States, and much more."
Having the fitness trails named for their son is an honor, said Paul's parents. Ken is a retired sociology professor at Marshall, and Sharon is retired chief operating officer of St. Mary's Medical Center.
Paul would have loved to see a new trail system established in his hometown, Sharon Ambrose said.
The trail is a way for his efforts to live on, she said.
"It's a living thing, an active thing," Sharon Ambrose said. "It will keep going and benefit everyone."
The name for the trail was submitted with about 60 suggestions from community members, said Dr. Tom Dannals, a member of the task force working on the trail system.
The logo was designed by a student in Mary Grassell's graphic design class in the Art Department at Marshall University. Graduate student Julia Urban's logo was selected, and runners-up were Marshall seniors Cole Hale and Deanna Tourville.
The entire project has been a great team effort that will transform Huntington, said state Sen. Bob Plymale, director of the Rahall Transportation Institute. All progressive cities have fitness trails, he has said. Trails provide a safe transportation alternative for community members without the use of motor vehicles, which decreases carbon-based emissions while encouraging folks to exercise, he said.
The 23-mile trail system will include existing pathways that will connect with newly constructed pathways and some special bicycle lanes on Huntington streets. Those lanes will be painted specially as bike lanes and marked as part of the "Share the Road" program. Plymale said he'd eventually like it to be all independent trails that don't share the roads, and he'd like it to eventually connect with trails of other cities.
He credited Ken Busbee for getting the project started. Also helpful were Dannals of HealthyHuntington.org, and organizations such as the city of Huntington, the Cabell County Commission, the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District, Marshall, St. Mary's, the Young Professionals Committee, Jeff's Bike Shop, the KYOVA Interstate Planning Committee and various neighborhood associations.
Funding for the project has yet to be secured, but Plymale said he's confident it will come through. Rahall has sent a letter of support to Gov. Joe Manchin's office for separate grants that have been written to assist in the project.
About 8.25 miles of newly constructed trails are planned, at an estimated cost of $190,000 per mile. Those include trails near Fourpole Creek, the floodwall, Harveytown and Guyandotte.
When finished, the final project could eventually cost $2 million or so, Plymale said.
He would like construction on the new trails to get started as early as this summer, and said volunteers will be welcome. Anyone who'd like to volunteer in the construction of the new trails can call Brie Salmons at the Transportation Institute at 304-696-7072.
Trail plan is start of something good
March 29th, 2007
Opinion
The Herald-Dispatch
It's easy to look at Ritter Park, Harris Riverfront Park or any of the many public parks and think the Huntington area has enough open space for walking and other leisure activities. Easy, but wrong.
“Every community that is successful has bike pathways,” said state Sen. Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, one of the people behind an effort to create fitness pathways in Cabell and Wayne counties.
At a planning meeting earlier this week, Plymale, who also is director of the Nick J. Rahall II Appalachian Transportation Institute at Marshall University, said one of the problems in the Tri-State community – with topography and general street layout – is a lack of places to walk, jog and ride a bicycle without the hassle of traffic.
Other people at the planning meeting agreed that fitness pathways are a must for economic development and the health of the community.
The Rahall Transportation Institute has been working with Dr. Tom Dannals of HealthyHuntington.org, city and neighborhood representatives, members of the Young Professionals Committee, the Greater Huntington Parks and Recreation District and other groups to design a plan for trails and biking pathways that eventually would connect into a network.
As planned, the trail would stretch from Virginia Point Park in Kenova to Rotary Park in Huntington. Along the way, it would include a trail along the levee in Westmoreland, a trail connecting Harveytown Park with Memorial Park and a walking and biking trail along 4th Avenue in Huntington.
More than $230,000 has been secured for this project, but more is needed. Planners have applied for grants from the West Virginia Department of Transportation.
The only problem with the idea behind this trail is that it does not go far enough, but that’s something that can be cured as money is obtained and the trail is built. As people begin using this trail, there will be a public demand to extend it to Barboursville, Milton, Salt Rock or Greenbottom.
Surely the Department of Transportation will agree and provide the money.
Group hopes to create trails within region
December 2, 2007
By JEAN TARBETT HARDIMAN
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON – Failure is not an option, says Dr. Tom Dannals.
A proposed fitness trail that’s safe and easily accessible in neighborhoods stretching from Ceredo to Altizer simply has to be created for the health of the Huntington community, he said.
“This is a medical necessity,” said Dannals, who along with Sen. Bob Plymale and others at the Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute are working with a group of concerned residents to establish a network of trails in Huntington,
“We can’t say, ‘This isn’t going to work,’ and the (government money) is put elsewhere,” Dannals said. “This has to work. Are you going to move to Huntington when there are other places that don’t have the obesity statistics we have and do have places to (get out and exercise)?”
According to a 2007 report from the Trust for America’s health, about 30 percent of West Virginia’s adults and 20 percent of its children are obese, the second-highest rate in the country for both statistics. It’s second to Mississippi and Washington.
Statistics show that if you live within a quarter mile of a fitness trail, you’re likely to use it, Dannals said, so that’s what the task force is working toward.
It’s getting close. It’s working on proposals and gearing up to get funds for the trail network, which would connect to Ritter Park, Harris Riverfront Park, Harveytown Park, the floodwall and eventually Virginia Point Park. It would require construction of some new crushed-limestone trails, particularly above the floodwall, and involve the Share the Road program, which provides special lanes and signs on Huntington’s streets to facilitate safe lanes for bicycles.
One concern right now is that the trail network doesn’t have a name, so the task force is sponsoring a contest and inviting community members to send in entries. The winner gets $100.
Every progressive city in the country has a good trail system, said Plymale, director of the transportation institute.
“There have been economic studies that say if you’re located within a quarter of a mile of a bike pathway, the value of you homes and businesses goes up.”
This could totally transform Huntington, Dannals said, both economically and medically.
“It’s going to be fascinating to see how it changes people’s habits,” he said. “People from out of town will be able to get on this loop, go out and smell Heiner’s bakery and see beautiful Central City and Ritter Park.”
He’d like to see historic signs along the way explaining the background of Huntington, particularly at Harris Riverfront Park, And as a runner/cyclist himself, Dannals looks forward to getting the floodwall portion of the project finished so there is a longer stretch with a view of the Ohio River than the short trail at the riverfront park.
In fact, of all the praise he got about the Marshall University Marathon this year, there’s one negative comment that sticks out in his mind. It was from a runner who wanted to see more of the river.
“He was expecting to be running along the Ohio River for five miles, and (the marathon route) only goes along the river for 100 yards or so,” he said.
Eventually, he hopes there are safe routes along the floodwall and elsewhere so that someone could run or cycle from Altizer all the way to Virginia Point Park in Ceredo-Kenova.
“People need these things,” he said. “It’s too dangerous. If you’re experienced, it’s not that dangerous, but we can’t expect that from everyone.
Plymale stressed that the pathways should encourage alternate modes of transportation for people who live, work and go to school in the area, for their health and to help with traffic flow.
The task force is working with the Cabell County Board of Education on the Safe Routes to Schools program for students at Guyandotte and Central City elementary schools, through that initiative, the city could make it safer and easier for students of those schools to walk and ride their bikes to school.
Seven of the 12 local neighborhood associations have endorsed the trail network so far, Plymale said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has given approval for putting a pathway similar to Ritter Park’s atop the floodwall in West Huntington; Huntington City Council will need to give approval for the Share the Road lanes and signage.
The task force also has to submit its grant proposal by January. It wants to start with the downtown loop, between 3rd Street and 13th Street West. The estimated cost of the project, which includes construction of a limestone pathway on the floodwall—similar to that at Ritter Park – is $208,000.
The City of Huntington is submitting two Transportation Enhancement Grant applications, said Brie Salmons, a project management specialist for the transportation institute. One grant is for the Westmoreland Floodwall section, which is expected to cost $317,200. The Harveytown section is expected to cost $182,000.
In all, there are proposals for five different segments of the network, and Plymale hopes it will be a public-private partnership.