Bike Kentucky

For 2008 RTP funding totaled $1,222,707. A total of $366,812 was set aside for motorized projects, with the balance, $855,895 to be used for non-motorized.

Last Friday the citizen’s advisory board met and made grant funding recommendations. Expect to see very little new natural surface (dirt) mountain bike trails. The mountain bike projects recommended for funding include:

Flat Lick Falls Scenic & Recreational Trails Area, Jackson County, 5.1 miles of new trail construction, $100K.

Pendleton County Multi-Jurisdictional Nature Trail Development Project, Pendleton County, 3 miles of new trail, $38,267.

Louisville Metro Parks Multi-Use Trail Enhancement, 4 miles of new trail in Waverly Park, Jefferson County, $95,945 (part of the grant is for new equestrian trails in Jefferson Memorial Forest).

Cynthiana-Harrison County Park Recreational Trails, 2 miles of new trail, Harrison County, $55,975.

There were no RTP grants submitted by mountain biking groups.

As a resident of Jefferson County, I was particularly interested in the Louisville Metro Parks Multi-Use Trail grant and decided to review the application in detail. Metro Parks plans to match the grant funding dollar for dollar, so the improvements to both Waverly Park & Jefferson Memorial Forest will total $191, 890 ($95,945 grant, plus $95,945 matched by Metro Parks).

It’s worth noting that the Kentucky Trail Riders Association has pledged 1000 man hours over the next two years as well as 40 hours of equipment/operator time for Jefferson Memorial Forest.

Upon reviewing the application I was very disappointed to find out that Metro Parks is not allowing mountain biking to return to Jefferson Memorial Forest. Approximately one decade ago parks, acting in typical closed door fashion, Metro Parks simply booted mountain bikers out of the forest; no explanation needed.

With Metro Louisville currently in the process of a well-funded and publicized Bike Friendly effort, one would expect Metro Parks to open up additional public lands to mountain biking, but that wasn’t the case.

If our recommendations are approved, Waverly Park will receive improvements totaling $90,750. It’s important to note that less than 25% of the total shall be spent on new trail construction ($21,250 to be exact). Parks plans to spend more than that on just 1,500 feet of paved path in front of the lake ($25,000), as well as an additional $10,500 for a gravel path around the lake.

Equally disappointing was the fact that no mountain biking group submitted an RTP. The RTP funding provides a very unique opportunity to build new trails while also returning some dollars to the submitting club’s bank account.

The RTP that I secured several years ago, over the objections of Metro Parks, resulted in over $12,000 being added to the local club’s bank account. That money was used to buy tools and bridge materials, provide the down payment on our jerseys and shorts, and we even provided some grants to clubs around the state.

Our Metro Council requested that the local club submit an RTP, but leadership declined (in order to please Metro Parks).