The Greenways Foundation promotes greenways, blueways and multi-use trails in Indiana.

Our 2021 Luncheon will be April 29 from noon to 1 p.m. Registration is now open!

During this online event, we will be celebrating the Indiana Greenways Awards recipients as well. Nominations are due by March 1, 2021. Read the criteria for the awards and nominate your choices!

We look forward to having you join us!

Trail of the Month

It is both a vintage remnant of 19th Century Indiana, and a modern mid-city escape along gentle waters and into quiet woods. The Central Canal Towpath Trail of Indianapolis is 6.5 miles long, from the canal’s feeder gates at White River to its southern terminus at Burdsal Parkway. Along the way, users can enjoy two restored 19th Century bridges and a much newer one in bustling Broad Ripple Village.

The Towpath is the lynchpin of a greenways loop that includes the Monon Trail and the White River Wapahani Trail. Its surface is packed crushed limestone, a reminder of its hard-working heritage as a corridor for cargo and passenger boats pulled by draft animals.

As early as the 1960s, Indianapolis citizens began voting with their feet to make the Towpath a greenway. Even today, the original single track made by thousands of joggers and walkers is rutted and visible. As public demand for trails grew in the early ’90s, the City began resurfacing and extending the Towpath. A popular but separated section of the same canal corridor exists further downtown, lined with concrete and forming a segment of the Cultural Trail.

Central Canal Towpath Trail

Our Trail of the Month feature is sponsored by Citizens Energy Group.

Congratulations to the winners of our 2020 Indiana Greenways Awards!

Outstanding Public Official
Dawn Ritchie
City of Fort Wayne

Towpath Trail, Fort Wayne

Outstanding Trail Advocate
Jeff Ray
Healthy Communities of Henry County

Jeff Ray, National Road Heritage Trail, Raysville section. Photo by Darrel Radford, New Castle Courier-Times.

Outstanding Trail Group
Huntington Area Recreational Trails Association, Inc.

HARTA’s annual Zombie Dash, Huntington

Outstanding Corporation
Parkview Hospital
Fort Wayne

Outstanding Local Government
City of Carmel

Monon Greenway, Carmel

Outstanding Trail Project
Lewis & Clark Trail
Clarksville

Lewis & Clark Trail, Clarksville

Greenways Legacy Award
Eric J. Holcomb
Governor, State of Indiana

Governor Holcomb also was our guest speaker at the 2020 Greenways Foundation Virtual Luncheon.

bicyclist on trail bridge and Eric Holcomb

Next Level Trails is a trail-building fund established by Governor Holcomb.

Getting around

The National Road Heritage Trail continues to expand, as outlined on the NRHT web site, with 2020 progress in several Indiana counties. Organizers and advocates continue to work toward a cross-state trail dream.

Our friends at the Cardinal Greenway are getting some well-earned national attention for its new Kitselman Trailhead, soon to be formally dedicated. In related blueway trail news, Muncie removed two of its five lowhead dams on White River, making paddling safer and more inviting.

Connectivity! Friends of Monroe County Greenways reports the Monroe County Council has approved funding for a connector trail from the Karst Farm Greenway to the in-city Bloomington trail system.

Pogue’s Run Trail is getting revitalized, thanks to a neighborhood initiative called Pathways Over Pogue’s that is raising money to repair the historic 1903 Nowland Avenue Bridge, a classic example of the Luten Arch.