Indian Creek & Tomahawk Creek Trails

Temperature at departure this morning = 76° F (24° C)
Temperature at departure yesterday evening = 94° F (34° C)

The recent construction project on Metcalf at 103rd street has made another Indian Creek bike/hike path detour necessary.

This one is a bit dicer than the one still in place at Antioch and I-435; you'll be routed up to the crosswalk on the North side of Metcalf. They have added some pavement just to the east of Metcalf to get you back off the sidewalk and onto the path. I would recommend taking the few extra seconds it takes to dismount and walk the bike across. As you can see, this is a busy intersection any way and they've funneled three lane into two, both directions. The detour is the crosswalk seen in the middle of this shot from the traffic cam.

Actually, I should say this is a HORRIBLE intersection to try to navigate as a pedestrian or cyclist. Most of the drivers here are going to be more apt to be looking for gaps in the traffic that they can shoot through and guess what? -- You are most likely to be in the gap, unseen by the motorist. It isn't a matter of who is right and who is wrong, cross with extreme caution!

Next, although the maps of Johnson county trails shows this stretch of the Tomahawk Creek trail open, I noticed on a ride a month or so ago that some work being done around Alt-69 between 135th and going north east to Metcalf. The path was just gravel in the section circled here:

I sent another note to the guy mentioned yesterday and got a quick response saying:

"We are close to completing that project and should have it officially open in the next couple of weeks. We still have some fencing and seeding to do there. This will complete the last major gap on the Tomahawk Creek Trail that runs from Leawood to Olathe (Pflumm Road). We still have a minor gap on 127th St. between Nall and the bridge near Deer Creek, but with the street and sidewalk, it is at least passable. That stretch will be completed with the road improvement in 2010."

He also gave me a heads up on some possible future work on the Indian Creek trail:

"While we are on the subject of closures and a heads up. In 2008, we may have a closure/detour of the Indian Creek trail in our Foxhill South & North park areas. This is the stretch between Mission and Roe. There is a major flood control and bridge construction project planned for this area. No timeline has been created but it will likely occur in mid 2008 and continue into 2009. The last time we had to close this stretch, we detoured users over I-435 via the pedestrian bridge that parallels the Roe street bridge."

I may ride the Tomahawk Creek trail this weekend to see how much work is left. Thought those of you who occasionally ride these paths might like the info as well.