{"id":2089996,"date":"2026-08-12T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2089996"},"modified":"2026-08-12T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:00:00","slug":"elizabethtown-kentucky-is-the-states-first-urban-trail-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2089996","title":{"rendered":"Elizabethtown, Kentucky is the state\u2019s first \u201cUrban Trail Town\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photos by Alyssa Fortenberry, Kentucky NICA \u2013 National Interscholastic Cycling Association
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Elizabethtown, Kentucky, just south of Louisville, has the designation of being the state\u2019s first \u201cUrban Trail Town.\u201d For over 50 years, a local non-profit, Greenspace<\/a>, has preserved corridors and natural spaces for the community, linking some 40 miles of bike and walking paths throughout the city. This close, longstanding relationship between non-motorized paths and Elizabethtown laid the foundation for bringing more singletrack to Kentucky\u2019s Urban Trail Town.<\/p>\n

NICA, IMBA, and PeopleForBikes teamed up with Greenspace to bring more trails to Elizabethtown, focusing on providing singletrack that is close to the community. With the new Trooper Lake project slated to include about six miles of trail, the organizations hope to provide a blueprint that can be repeated in towns across the country.<\/p>\n

Trooper Lake<\/h2>\n

\u201cTrooper Lake is meant to be the home course for the local NICA team with the ability to host events,\u201d David Haines, Kentucky League Coach Development Manager, told us. \u201cThe current planned trail mileage is expected to be around 5-6 miles of green- and blue-skill-level trails, with the possibility of alternate advanced lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The plan is for cross-country-style loops that NICA teams can easily practice and race on. As we\u2019ve learned from other trail systems with a NICA focus<\/a>, progression is typically the key, with more significant features typically having an optional go-around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to all [Haines] shared about Trooper Lake, we also want to add that Trooper Lake is being purpose-built to host not only team practices, but Kentucky NICA racing and events, and potentially a NICA regional event,\u201d Denile Hill, Kentucky NICA League Director, said.<\/p>\n

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But optional \u201calternative advanced lines\u201d may not be the only black diamond offering at Trooper Lake. Haines told us that Trooper Lake began as 75 acres of city-owned land and increased by 40 acres through a land acquisition. The newly acquired land provided ample room to house up to six miles of singletrack across the system, making a new NICA course a much closer reality.<\/p>\n

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Now, there is a \u201cpotential of acquiring 60-70 more acres,\u201d which would allow the trails at Trooper Lake to expand even further.<\/p>\n

In addition to being a trail system, Trooper Lake will also be a city park with the \u201cusual amenities.\u201d Visitors can expect bathrooms, pavilions, play areas, and picnic tables. As for the trails, while professional trail builders will build them, the folks we corresponded with at NICA anticipate a good number of volunteers from local NICA clubs\u2014both athletes and coaches.<\/p>\n

More trail systems like Trooper Lake<\/h2>\n

\u201cNICA and IMBA have a new partnership aimed at getting trails closer to kids,\u201d Dallen Atack, who works for NICA Field Operations, told us. Elizabethtown was perhaps a perfect trial ground for a project such as this, with Greenspace advocating for outdoor recreation for such a long time.<\/p>\n

It was also Greenspace that provided the initial funding to begin planning the trails with IMBA. SRAM stepped in too, providing $80,000 in funding over the next two years. In total, Elizabethtown has budgeted $1.8 million for planning and to begin construction on the Trooper Lake Park. The park will be the 11th in the city.\u200b<\/p>\n

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Along with the established relationship with Greenspace, Haines also told us that losing access to trails in the past helped the Trooper Lake project along. The beloved Buffalo Lake trails, right next to downtown, were impacted by the construction of an amphitheater, with several trails lost. To the city\u2019s credit, they quickly began working to remedy the lost mileage, especially after local NICA student-athletes attended council meetings and told city leaders about the positive impacts of trails on their lives.<\/p>\n

Trooper Lake, with the backing of the established organizations, was an easy choice.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/figure>\n

And hopefully Elizabethtown is just the beginning. \u201cOur vision is that through partnerships we will be able to bring local trails to communities, both urban and rural, across Kentucky,\u201d Atack said. Trooper Lake is the first of two trail systems in development with NICA, IMBA, and PeopleForBikes. Singletracks inquired about the details on the second project, but it seems the group is being tight-lipped about the subject for now.<\/p>\n

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And it is even bigger than two trail systems. The partners are looking at these initial projects as somewhat of a pilot program. The long-term goal is to create repeatable guidance that both NICA leagues and communities can take to their local municipalities to advocate for more trails.<\/p>\n

Three organizations think it will look something like this: NICA will take the lead on researching potential project locations and training coaches and athletes in trail advocacy. IMBA will work one-on-one with local NICA leaders, advising on things like community engagement and narrowing objectives for the potential project. PeopleForBikes will connect each potential project to existing bike initiatives in the community and support advocacy training.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the goal is to get more people out on singletrack. Hill summed it up: \u201cNICA believes in the power of trails to transform communities\u2019 physical, mental, social, and economic well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–><\/p>\n

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Photos by Alyssa Fortenberry, Kentucky NICA \u2013 National Interscholastic Cycling Association Elizabethtown, Kentucky, just south of Louisville, has the designation of being the state\u2019s first \u201cUrban Trail Town.\u201d For over 50 years, a local non-profit, Greenspace, has preserved corridors and natural spaces for the community, linking some 40 miles of bike and walking paths throughout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-2089996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2089996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089996\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2089996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2089996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2089996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}