FMCPT
Menu

Complete the Trail!

FMCPT (and its supporters) have helped to make London a bicycle-friendly community. Our trails our well-maintained and community support is high. But…

…there’s a gap!

Between the Prairie Grass Trail to the west and the Roberts Pass Trail to the east, we only have bypass routes through the city of London. That’s our “gap.” Working with the “Rails to Trails” concept, we’d love to complete the Ohio to Erie Bicycle Trail through town along the short section of railroad connector that remains.

It’s a daunting task, to be sure, and a long-term goal, but with your help, we’ve already decreased the gap. With your continued support, we hope to one day negotiate the final segment details and see our beautiful, complete bike trail vision come true.

See the full Vision!

The volunteers of the FMCPT “army” continue to work hard every day to make our local trails remarkable and the experience of trail travelers enjoyable, one to be remembered.

We enjoy strong backing from our community leaders, including the Madison County Park District, the City of London, and the London Parks and Recreation Department. We are participating members of the Downtown London association of business merchants, and the Madison County Chamber of Commerce.

Through our efforts, the city of London has been the host for the MS150 Bikin’ to the Beast Tour, the Across Ohio Bicycle Adventure (XOBA), the Greene County Cycling Classic, and the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA).

Please help us keep this bicycle-friendly growth going, helping London thrive and travelers look forward to coming our way. Help complete the trail with your generous – and greatly appreciated – support.

Help complete the trail!



It’s easy… and it’s tax deductible.

Top

Around 2009, an idea first developed during a conversation between Wayne Roberts with FMCPT and Van Viney, CEO of MATCO Services. It took a while, but in 2019 work began in earnest to begin construction of a "welcome" area on the east side of London. This was envisioned to compliment our beautiful "welcome" on the west side of town, the Prairie Grass Trailhead with its camping area, shelter house, and many other amenities. The original vision to create a multi-panel mural using the bricked-in windows of the old tile factory building that MATCO now owned was expanded upon to include a mini-park, a respite with benches, pleasant landscaping, and more.

Many local people have contributed many, many hours of brain power and sweat equity to bring this project from an old factory wall and overgrown grounds to the trail highlight it has become. We have kept costs extremely low though all of the in-kind donations and almost innumerable hours of donated labor. But also, we received great support support for the funding we required, all from Madison County-area companies and people. It was, and is, a true "community" project.

An added benefit was realized a couple of years ago when we found that we could easily create access to Roberts Pass for MATCO clients and employees. They previously had found  handicapped-friendly trail access difficult if not downright impossible. For the first time, they are able to safely access their next-door neighbor, the Roberts Pass section of the Ohio to Erie Trail!

Further value was gained when Michele Bouquet and Sue Cline joined our efforts bringing the wisdom of the Madison County Master Gardeners with them. They, and many of their cohorts, contributed tons of time developing and implementing a gorgeous native plants garden in our mini-park, along with several pollinator plant zones. We hope to build on the value of this by adding educational kiosks throughout the mini-park. We also plan to work with area groups, including the OSU Extension Center, on educational opportunities for local schools, seniors, etc.