Trail finish line is in sight

NEW LONDON — The end is in sight for the completion of the New London-Greenwich Rail Trail (NLGRT), which was first conceived in 2006 and has been under construction for several years. The Rail Trail committee purchased the 7-mile corridor between New London and Greenwich from the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad in 2019. A grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was applied for and approved to complete drainage and finish work on approximately 3.3 miles or about half of the 7-mile trail. This work, which is soon to begin, will cover West Main Street in New London to TL 79 and from North Kniffin Street in Greenwich to Alpha Road. The cost of that project is $430,732, with the grant funding 75 percent of the total and the NLGRT raising about $110,000 to pay its 25 percent share. In the meantime, the committee applied for and received approval for a $1.6 million Ohio Department of Transportation grant to complete the trail up to TL 187 from the east and U.S. 250 from the west. It will also take the trail over the Vermilion River and under U.S 250, which will complete the project. This grant required no match, but the committee must pay for the engineering and design work, as well as a tractor and mower, which is now borrowed from a friend of the trail. Anyone interested in helping with this project can go online to www. newlondongreenwichrailtrail. org. Donations can be made by mail to P.O. Box 36, Greenwich Ohio 44837 or online through the Paypal link in the website. NLGRT meetings are open to the public, with the next one scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 25 in the basement of the Greenwich United Methodist Church at 18 E. Main St.