Radius launches program to boost Monon South Trail downtowns

Radius Indiana has launched the Magnificent Monon South Main Street Program to help trail communities turn Monon South traffic into downtown spending, with Jasper, Huntingburg and nearby Ferdinand among the Dubois County places likely to feel the effect. The Magnificent Monon South Main Street Program is Radius’s newest effort and helps member communities complete the initial application process for Indiana Main Street.

The Monon South Trail is a proposed 57-mile route between Mitchell and the Clark/Floyd County border that connects eight communities across Lawrence, Orange, Washington and Clark counties, with the broader goal of pulling trail users into downtowns and creating new tourism revenue along the corridor. An Indiana DNR corridor map includes Dubois County and says 440,000 people live within 10 miles of the trail route.

The county’s bicycle and pedestrian master plan points to connections between Huntingburg and Jasper, Jasper and Ireland, Huntingburg and Ferdinand, Ferdinand to Ferdinand State Forest and Huntingburg to Dubois County Park. Those links feed more foot traffic to cafes, shops and event spaces as local leaders use the trail to strengthen storefront districts and downtown programming.

Communities that earn Indiana Main Street accreditation can become eligible for grant opportunities, technical assistance and educational resources from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. OCRA’s Main Street Ready technical-assistance program helps communities set downtown priorities, and Main Street 101 is required for communities applying to the Downtown Affiliate Network in the 2026-2027 cycle. OCRA says Indiana Main Street communities have generated more than $4 billion in private reinvestment and more than $2.4 billion in public reinvestment since 1985.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources awarded $22.3 million through Next Level Trails for purchase and creation of the railbanked CSX corridor, with additional READI funding helping make the project possible. No local tax dollars were used in construction of Phase 1A and Phase 1B. The last two sections of Phase 1A opened on June 20, 2025, after 11 months of work that began with a July 2024 groundbreaking in Borden.

Jeff Quyle, Radius Indiana’s president and CEO, said the trail is meant to bring users into downtown areas, while Kristal Painter of Discover Southern Indiana called the effort a regional Main Street concept built to help small communities develop capacity they may not have on their own. Regional Opportunity Initiatives says the completed trail is expected to stretch past 60 miles and become Indiana’s longest recreational trail.