Yet Another Reason To Consider Kokomo For Your Home Town

Kokomo has had so much positive press that it’s made national news!  The community is known as coming back from the brink.  Many had written Kokomo off just a few short years ago. Due to the hard work and perseverance of many people, and some major employers choosing Kokomo over other cities to call home; Kokomo is most definately on the upswing.  If you need more reasons to consider Kokomo for your hometown; here’s one…

Kokomo to start a new trail
Path will run from Markland to Lincoln.

— The city of Kokomo is getting ready to add to its trail system this spring, as work is under way on a new spur from Markland Avenue to Lincoln Road.

The Kokomo Board of Public Works & Safety approved a construction easement agreement with the owners of the Winamac Southern Railroad Wednesday, allowing the project to move forward.

The new trail will run alongside the railroad tracks, will be paved, and will be suitable for walking, jogging, bicycling and in-line skating.

The rail line, owned by the Ortman family of Kokomo Grain Inc., runs roughly parallel to Home Avenue, past the old Haynes factory, the American Legion golf course and Chrysler Group LLC’s Kokomo Casting Plant and Kokomo Transmission Plant.

“This is part of what we’re trying to do — connect everyone together,” Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight said Wednesday. “This is part of the master plan.”

The rail spur is the same one that connects with the Buckeye Street train depot in downtown Kokomo, and the rail line goes farther north to connect with the Nickel Plate rails-to-trails project.

Eventually, city officials hope to build a trail linking downtown with the Nickel Plate, which now ends in Cassville. The Nickel Plate runs from Cassville north to Rochester.

The new trail will also link up with the existing Wildcat Walk of Excellence, which follows roughly an east-west axis through downtown.

City officials will add to the Walk of Excellence this summer, extending it northward to Mehlig Park from where it now ends at UCT Park.

Once that happens, a trail user would be able to walk or ride from Mehlig to the corner of Main and Superior streets downtown, and then use the sidewalk or bike lane on Main Street to travel south to meet the new trail at Markland Avenue.

Goodnight said he expects the new trail to be ready by the latter part of June.

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