The Region

The counties that make up the planning area include the Align Southern Indiana counties, which include Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott and Washington Counties, and Jefferson County, Indiana. The plan will also look at connections to Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Southern Indiana is an area defined by the Ohio River and the Knobstone Escarpment. A region of approximately 320,000 inhabitants, it is also part of the Greater Louisville Metropolitan area, being located on the north side of the city. It is an area of hills and valleys, rocks, forests, and rivers. It is an area with many beautiful parks, including eight State Parks or Forests within reach of the proposed State “Visionary Trail System”.

Many parks are in towns or rural areas scattered across the region, inaccessible by sidewalk, bikeway, or greenway, and few are interconnected. Connected by trails, communities can connect to nature. Visitors, riders, and hikers can bring revenue into cities, towns, and rural communities with trailside businesses, accommodations, food, and dining locations being popular destinations for touring cyclists and walkers, mountain bike enthusiasts or casual riders and their families.

A regional trail network plan will promote and allow for better active transportation planning as well as outdoor recreation planning, and local, state, and federal planning dollars can be focused on areas of priority, including Origin Park and the South Monon Freedom Trail or Charlestown State Park and Deam Lake. A connected trail network in Southern Indiana would connect to the Louisville Loop, a proposed 100-mile trail in Louisville currently in development, creating a two-state regional experience.

By focusing on key hubs or parks, working together within the region, paved, gravel and natural-surface trails can be imagined that will allow the outdoor experience to become the regional experience. By preserving the natural beauty of the region and reimagining how these beautiful parks can be connected by trails, the region will gain a quality of place that will attract a talented workforce, as well as become known as a tourism destination and a place to enjoy the outdoors.