Economic Benefits
"We're all out of biscuits!"
That's when I realized the economic benefits of trails for a community. I was on a week long bike ride through rural Indiana with my daughter, Alex. We are notoriously slow bike riders, so in this group of 500 bikers we were often the last to show up at the mom & pop cafes located along the bike routes. And we always heard the same answers - out of biscuits, home made pies, fresh pasta.
Not that they hadn't been warned. The organizers of this bike ride knew that many people bike to eat and they would warn each cafe owner to make extra food on the days our ride was coming through. Imagine the face on that restaurant owners face when they were told, "You will have 400-500 HUNGRY bike riders coming by your cafe between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on June 20." We would give them enough business for a year in that one afternoon.
And even more beneficial, many of the bike riders would return at later times to enjoy these special places with friends and family. Being at the intersection of State Road 3 and Interstate 70 has advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that cars zipping by at 70 miles per hour may not notice the charms of a local deli or shop.
A renovated downtown alone may not bring people back. We need a way to slow people down so they can notice the pleasures to be found off the highway. A system of bike trails, centered on downtown New Castle, can be that final touch that puts together the downtown renovation efforts. Restore the Castle Theater. Build a new library. Get new shops and cafes down near the lovely Arts Park. And then connect it all with a series of biking and walking trails and you have a real place to live and visit.
Is it only an advantage to the Mom and Pop businesses? I'd say no. Bryan Coates, head of the EDC is one of the first to recognize that having trails in our community helps sell us as a livable location—the kind of place people want to live and locate their businesses. Trails may not bring in the mega factories, but these kinds of amenities, parks and an active art scene can attract the smaller, information-based businesses of the future. Look at the Monon Trail. Talk to the mayor of Indianapolis and he will tell you that the Indy Greenways is the best thing they've got going for Indianapolis. When they are wooing new investors and new businesses to the Indy area, the Monon is the top highlight they are sure to show new prospects.
Building trails is one of the best things we could do to encourage economic development in New Castle and Henry County. Just be sure to make more biscuits!