CLINTON COUNTY — A long-postponed project is starting to get back on track.

On Thursday, the Clinton County Trail Coalition met with the new mayor of the Village of Morrow (Mitchell Fisher) to discuss a project that had been shelved eight years prior. The project is connecting the bike trails that will link Wilmington to Clarksville to Morrow.

Bruce Saunders, president of the Clinton County Trail Coalition, told the News Journal they decided to hold their regular monthly meeting in Morrow instead of Wilmington so they could talk to Mayor Fisher.

“Thirty years ago when our organization started, the first piece of land we bought was the abandoned rail corridor in Clarksville and Morrow,” said Saunders. “About 10 years ago, we sold the land to the village of Morrow, one of our coalition members wrote the grant to the State of Ohio on behalf of Morrow. They used most of that grant money — about $310,000 — to purchase the land from us.”

But the leadership of Morrow changed and the then-new mayor was not interested in the trail project, according to officials. Because of this, the project was shelved. Then, after Mayor Fisher won the election last year, Saunders advised he was “very interested in all the projects that got put aside.”

Saunders advised that a mutual acquaintance of his and Fisher’s found out about Fisher’s interest in the project and pointed him to the Trail Coalition.

This trail right now leads from Wilmington to Ogden Road. The next phase is to link Ogden Road to Clarksville, then Clarksville to Morrow. The goal is to help connect it to other statewide trails.

According to Saunders, the funding for this project will come from statewide grants.

As of now, Saunders gave a “conservative estimate” of five years as a timeline for the project’s completion.

Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574