The pioneer Evansville Region Trails Master Plan provides a roadmap for creating a multi-use network of paths connecting communities in southwest Indiana and western Kentucky.
The Evansville-Area Trails Coalition collaborated with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Indianapolis-based Butler, Fairman and Seufert to develop the document with input from community leaders and stakeholders as well as trail advocates.
“The overall vision is to have a trail that connects in every district,” said ETC Executive Director Lorie Van Hook. “We want to utilize all of the paths that we have available to us and not leave anything out.”
The plan unveiled in June includes regional connection recommendations for Vanderburgh, Gibson, Warrick and Posey Counties in Indiana, and Henderson County in Kentucky. Proponents believe the venture will attract outdoor enthusiasts, promote tourism and enhance property values.
“When you have a solid, viable trail system that has that connectivity and provides some of those things that the public is looking for, especially the younger generations, from a walkability, bikeability, just overall public health standpoint, you can’t put a price tag on that,” said Newburgh Town Manager Chris Cooke. “Any dollar that’s invested today in a trail system will be rewarded tenfold over the lifetime of that trail.”
‘We need to do this’
The Evansville Region Trails Master Plan is a project that’s been years in the making, according to Van Hook. In February 2024, ETC officially launched the initiative by hiring consultants to help craft the proposal.
“We looked at how we could unify and take into consideration all of the research that had been previously done locally, whether it was private corporations or chambers or some of the other groups that want to connect our trails as vitalizing economic impact,” Van Hook said. “We need to do this so that we know what we’re aiming for and how we’re going to build our trails in these gap segments that connect.”
While trail connections provide health benefits, Van Hook said the junctions improve mobility for people who rely on walking, bicycling and wheeling for transportation as well.
“[Community members and visitors] like where trails are adjacent to some of our amenities. Shopping, dinner, even the conveniences of essential destinations like clinics,” said Van Hook.
Van Hook said discovering opportunities for new trail connections also goes beyond creating dirt paths in the woods.
“Trails are comprised of bicycle lanes, sidewalks and all of the infrastructure that supports people at every level, not just automobiles and transit,” said Van Hook. “We’d like to see the trails along public property right-of-ways so that it moves the trail progress forward a little bit with momentum.”
Regional connection recommendations
Some of the regional connection recommendations in the Evansville Region Trails Master Plan coincide with the American Discovery Trail that passes through Mount Vernon, Evansville and Boonville. One of the top suggestions is connecting Newburgh to Evansville with the Angel Mounds/Newburgh Trail and the Newburgh Riverfront Trail.
“[We have] an established trail that would be easily linked up to additional trail systems within Vanderburgh County and elsewhere in Warrick County. That’s why we’re a part of this regional master plan to try to look at funding, resources and ways to improve trail connectivity throughout not just the town of Newburgh but the entire region,” said Cooke.
In Posey County, the Mount Vernon Regional Trail and the Mount Vernon Bike Route include connections to the University of Southern Indiana and Evansville. Maegen Greenwell, who recently launched the Posey County Trails Coalition, believes taking a regional approach to the project makes the objectives more attainable.
“It’s going to help attract tourism, and we’re looking to grow our population in Posey County. So we’re hoping that if we can make the standard of living better, people will want to move here,” said Greenwell. “The Posey County Trail Coalition is also looking to move forward with our own trail plan. We’re going to build our board and get more volunteers and get people involved.”
Ohio River Crossing options from Evansville into Henderson include the Ohio River Crossing Trail, Riverfront Trail Extension South and Southern Extension of Hi-Rail Trail. The Norfolk Southern Boonville Greenway, Darmstadt Regional Trail, Gibson County Trail and Haubstadt Bike Route make up the rest of the regional connection recommendations.
“We have the beautiful river. We’ve got the riverfronts: Henderson, Evansville, Mount Vernon. Boonville has a trail plan in place, and they have several parks that have bicycle parks and different developments of infrastructure. We have enough to offer. And making those connections would bring another recreational piece,” said Van Hook.
What’s next
The next steps for the Evansville Region Trails Master Plan involve pursuing and securing funding, advocating for community support, initiating regional city/town partnerships and breaking ground on priority connections.
“We’d like to develop a funding plan so that we can implement it and activate this plan so that we’re not using tax dollars. We’re going to do our best. It’s challenging because trails are expensive,” said Van Hook.
Cooke is tracking the progress of the Ohio River Restoration Program Act—which would establish an office to find ways to secure federal capital for the river basin—as a potential funding source for Newburgh’s riverfront and trail proposals. The Ohio River is the largest body of water in the country that doesn’t receive federal funding, according to the Ohio River Foundation.
“With us being right on the river, we’re wanting to be a part of that,” said Cooke. “It might open up the doors to some additional trail works and things like that we currently don’t have.”
Cooke and Van Hook agree that reducing the need for property acquisition and using former railroad corridors, like the Norfolk Southern Boonville Greenway recommendation, will speed up progress on some trail connections.
“If you look elsewhere in the state, other parts of Indiana have done great with taking their own railroad tracks and turning them into trail systems. They’ve been able to monopolize the public health, the walkability,” said Cooke.
Cooke said he’s excited to be part of the actionable plan to create an interconnected, sustainable and accessible trail network in the area.
“When you see teams coming together on a regional basis from a lot of different places with a common vision, it can be transformational. Not just for the town of Newburgh, the town of Mount Vernon, Evansville. It can help the entire region because you have to realize as we’re competing on the national and international stage, business wise, we do that as a region,” said Cooke.