The southernmost portion of a trail project in Fortville is set to start this month.
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FORTVILLE — The first phase of a 2-mile trail through Fortville’s south side is set to kick off this month.
When the whole project is finished, it’ll provide a pedestrian link between the town’s schools and its old town area.
The upcoming initial leg will span CR 200W’s west side along the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation’s campus from just north of Ind. 234 to just north of Fortville Elementary School.
The 10-foot-wide asphalt trail will have a special crosswalk coming off of it between Mt. Vernon High School on the west side of the road and Mt. Vernon Middle School on the east side. The crosswalk will allow pedestrians to press a button that will trigger a traffic light over the county road to turn red, prompting vehicles to stop. Another of these crosswalks will be just north of the elementary school, allowing trail users to cross to the existing trail on the road’s east side that extends north along the Mt. Vernon North subdivision.
The first phase of the trail is projected to finish by November 2022.
Eventually the trail will pick up where Mt. Vernon North’s leaves off and extend north along CR 200W to Fortville Pike/Maple Street, where it will continue north on the road’s west side and terminate at Garden Street. The trail will have lighting and benches as well as a grass buffer between it and roadways.
“There will be a pedestrian link between the old town area of Fortville down to the school district campus, and of course it will also give people a safe area to exercise — jog, ride their bike, walk,” said Adam Zaklikowski, Fortville planning and building director.
Jack Parker, superintendent of Mt. Vernon schools, also praised the future trail’s recreational benefits.
“Hancock County continues to grow in the area of community amenities providing a better quality of life for residents; we are pleased that Fortville is continuing to develop as a vibrant town with trails that are created with safety in mind,” Parker said in an email. “Trails provide a recreational opportunity and enhanced quality of life for residents as well as help to further the county’s initiative to become one of the healthiest counties in Indiana.”
Parker highlighted the trail’s safety aspects as well.
“We have been working closely with the town of Fortville since the inception of the trail concept,” he said. “We shared at the beginning of these discussions that our primary concern is the safety of our students or any pedestrians using the trail. … We are greatly appreciative of the town’s support of our top priority: the safety of our students.”
Work on the section of the trail along Maple Street/Fortville Pike between CR 200W and Garden Street is slated for 2023. That phase will also include a traffic signal at Fortville Pike and CR 200W.
In 2026, the final leg will get underway connecting the trail from the intersection at Fortville Pike and CR 200W to the existing trail along the Mt. Vernon North subdivision.
The project’s current cost estimate is nearly $6.2 million, with 80% coming from federal funds dispersed by the Indiana Department of Transportation and 20% coming from Fortville.
The town filed complaints last year in Hancock County courts against Mt. Carmel Primitive Baptist Church of Hancock County located on Fortville Pike and a couple who own a home on Maple Street after attempts to buy parts of their land needed for the trail were unsuccessful. Both cases have since been resolved and the town obtained the right-of-way needed for the project.
