The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has cut the ribbon on Monon South Trail’s latest segment, spanning five counties in Southern Indiana along the abandoned Monon Railroad. Photo from the Indiana DNR.
SALEM — The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and Radius Indiana celebrated the opening of the next segment of the Monon South Trail today, this time in the town of Salem.
The segment runs 3.3 miles south of downtown and includes 2.8 miles of paved surface and 0.5 miles of crushed stone surface. The segment also hosts an original L&N boxcar that was restored thanks to a matching grant from more than 90 donors and the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places program.
“The Monon South Trail is opening new sections at a rapid pace, with this new section in Salem opening just weeks after Borden’s trail section opened,” said Dale Brier, deputy director of community grants and trails for Indiana State Parks. “At DNR, we’re proud to financially support this trail’s construction, which will eventually be Indiana’s longest.”
Together with previous openings in the towns of Mitchell, Orleans, and Borden, the Monon South Trail now has more than 12 miles of trail open to the public.
“We’re very pleased to be opening more sections of the trail in time for people to enjoy the warmer weather,” said Jeff Quyle, president and CEO of Radius Indiana. “We’ve been fortunate to have such a productive construction team that has really expedited timely construction.”
With dedicated state funding support, DNR purchased the 62.3-mile Monon South corridor on behalf of New Albany and Radius Indiana for the combined sum of $5.5 million. DNR granted Radius an additional $22.3 million to support Phase 1 development, which is expected to be completed by August, offering Hoosiers and visitors alike over 20 miles of hard-surface trail along the historic former Monon Railroad rail line.
DNR has led the largest infusion of trails funding in state history, with $180 million in dedicated trail funding administered through DNR that facilitates critical trail connections within and between Hoosier communities. With this opening, 43 of the 89 projects are complete, with another 22 under construction. With this opening, more than 125 miles of trail have been built since the program’s inception.
