Local residents could be seeing more bicyclists passing through Crothersville as a result of the community being included on a statewide cycling route.
The Indiana Department of Transportation, the Adventure Cycling Association, Bicycle Indiana, and the Hoosier Rails to Trails Council announced recently the designation of three U.S. Bicycle Routes that will span the Hoosier State from border to border, stretching a combined total of 610 miles.
U.S. Bicycle Routes are officially numbered bicycle routes that connect communities and the nation. The routes are for experienced long-distance bicycle riders – generally considered “touring cyclists” – who are comfortable riding on most types of facilities, including roads without any special treatments for bicyclists. This group also includes utilitarian and recreational riders who are confident enough to ride on busy roadways and navigate in traffic.
“INDOT is proud to partner with the Hoosier Rails to Trails Council, Bicycle Indiana, and the Adventure Cycling Association to turn the idea of a bicycle route network throughout the state and the nation into a reality,” said INDOT Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson. “Indiana is the true crossroads of America, validated not only by our roadways, but now by our bicycle routes as well.”
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials approved INDOT’s applications for USBR 35, USBR 36 and USBR 50 at its annual meeting last month in Chicago.
Crothersville is a part of USBR 35, the 381-mile north-south bicycle route that cyclists can pedal from Michigan to the Big Four Bridge spanning the Ohio River at Jeffersonville.
In Jackson County the route comes north from Bartholomew County along State Road 11 through Seymour to Dudleytown where it turns east on State Road 250 to Uniontown then south on US 31 through Crothersville and on through Austin, Scottsburg and Henryville to the Ohio River.
“Indiana is delighted to be joining 22 other states as part of the U.S. Bicycle Route System,” said Mark Newman, executive director of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development. “We take great pride in our rural roadways and the charm of our natural assets and destinations. Hoosiers look forward to sharing their roads and communities with bicycle tourists as they travel the Indiana portions of these U.S. bike routes.”
Other routes include USBR 36: a 58.7-mile route between Illinois and Michigan and USBR 50, a 160-mile route connects from the Illinois border, near Terre Haute, to Richmond on the Ohio border.
