Neighbors' worst fear: Incorrect trail-head sign as bad as incorrect headline in a newspaper

Residents of West 12th Street were starting to believe my assertions that a city trail was being built west from 12th into Pinnacle Prairie and then north to Hill Place construction site until Friday evening when the contractor for the Hill Place student-apartment complex put up this sign before leaving for the night. I don't dare walk there right now! Homeowners on that short portion of West 12th were promised decades ago that the street would never be opened to the west. The Aspen Ridge town-house developers got city permission to build on a decades-old platted street right of way and dug it out full width. However, the developers who later took over the already-cleared 30-acre site for student apartments asked to build a street bridge across the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River where Aspen Ridge workers had installed a walking bridge, obviating the need for the entrance for vehicles from 12th Street. So the Town Branch Neighborhood Association negotiated to have a trail built in that right of way, which is finally happening. It will provide pedestrians and bicyclists access to a wonderful portion of Pinnacle Foods Inc.'s wet prairie, just west of World Peace Wetland Prairie, a city nature park. But, until it is all done, the residents of the area will not stop worrying about the threat of motorized traffic and talking about the long-forgotten promise.