Introduction

If you'd like to tour the Middletown area, you could just hop on your bike, cruise on in, and wander about.  Virtually all public streets in Middletown are bike-legal; however, some are more bike-friendly than others, and the street system can be baffling to folks used to nice, rectangular grid patterns.  Thus some preliminary information would probably be welcome.  There is quite a bit available from this page, in both verbal and graphic form, though what you find useful will naturally depend on your particular needs and desires.  That's why the menu itself might require a brief explanation for maximum clarity and ease of use.

• Introduction: This thing here. It's intended to acquaint you with the menu items, so you can choose what you want from what's available, with a minimum of confusion, time, effort, and hassle.
• Access by Car: Instructions and maps for getting into Middletown, and particularly to Sunset Park, where most of my rides begin and end.
• Access by Bike: Instructions and maps for entering and leaving Middletown on the most bicycle-friendly routes, again with Sunset Park as the focus. Also information about neighboring communities.
• Tours & Maps: A selection of tours from Middletown to several neighboring communities within 30 miles (50 kilometers) or so of Middletown.
• Area Information: Access to local information about detours, weather, hours of daylight, as well as geography and points of interest.
• Notes: Information about Middletown's boulevard system and one-way streets, and updates to DeLorme maps.

Assembling information you need for a ride might include some or all of the following, depending on your familiarity with the Middletown area.

• If you do not already know how to find Sunset Park, and are arriving by motor vehicle, use Access by Car for directions; if you are arriving by bike, use Access by Bike and select the most convenient of the eight access points.
• To select a pre-defined tour, use Tours & Maps, then select and print the desired material.
• For details on entering or leaving Middletown at any of the eight access points, use Access by Bike.
• For current information about detours, weather, and hours of daylight, go to Area Information.
• For details about the places you might visit, use Access by Bike to select points of interest.

Access to Middletown by Motor Vehicle

Motoring access to Middletown is most common via Interstate 75, as well as State Routes 4, 73, and 122. However, since the three state highways converge at one point, the number of ways to reach Sunset Park can be distilled to two convenient routes.

Getting into and out of Middletown by Bicycle

The menu below is a schematic representation of communities in the Middletown area, located in approximate geographic relationship to each other.  Each group of communities is color-coded to the nearest of eight (more or less) bicycle-friendly points of access to Middletown.

• Click the center Middletown panel for directions to the Sunset Park area.
• Click any of the eight "raised" panels in the central area of the table for directions and maps for traveling between Sunset Park and the respective access point. (To save time over dialup connections, maps are loaded only on request.)
• Click outlying communities for information about them. (Some of the smaller locations have no info links, but are displayed to indicate their relative locations on itineraries and maps.)

Locations displayed in italics have direct access to the interconnected intercity bikeway system.

Selected Tour Itineraries & Maps

Most of these rides begin and end at Middletown's Sunset Park. For those that do not, click the "Access by Bike" menu item, and then choose the appropriate access point(s) for directions.

Area Information

These resources and others are available as well from the menus at the top and bottom of pages related to bicycling in southwestern Ohio.

Click community names below for local features and information. (Not all items shown have information available, but are included here to show their geographical relationships.) Italics indicate a community with direct access to the interconnected intercity bikeway system.

Notes

One-Way Streets | DeLorme Maps | Unfriendly Signals | Hazards | Confusing Street Names

Major one-way streets (paired as appropriate):

• Franklin:
  • Main Street, northbound from Farm to Van Horne
  • River Street, southbound from VanHorne to Farm
• Miamisburg:
  • First Street, northbound from Mays to Gressbach
  • Main Street, southbound from Gressbach to Mays
• Middletown:
  • Clinton Street (SR-4 & 73), northbound from Girard to Reinartz
  • Verity Parkway (SR-4 & 73), southbound from Reinartz to Girard
  • First Avenue, eastbound from Verity to Central at Sutphin
  • Manchester Avenue, westbound from University to Clinton
    (Though some itineraries list Central Avenue as the preferred east-west route through downtown Middletown, between Main and Sutphin Streets, the First / Manchester Avenue pair is in most ways preferable, having both less traffic and fewer stops.  Be aware that the right lane of First Avenue becomes the right-turn lane at University, and again at the intersection of Central and Sutphin, so to continue straight or turn left you should change to the left lane by the time you reach the railroad crossing.)
  • Monroe Street, northbound from Central to Reinartz / Miami.
• West Carrollton:
  • Dixie Drive, northbound from Cedar to I-75 / SR-741
  • Central Avenue, southbound from I-75 / SR-741 to Cedar

DeLorme maps:  Maps prepared using Street Map USA version 2 are in some cases out of date or otherwise inaccurate. As to the Middletown area specifically, note the following updated information:

• Franklin
  • SR-123 no longer crosses the Second Street bridge. Instead, from Central Avenue in Carlisle it now crosses Dayton Oxford Road and crosses the Great Miami River on a newer bridge; it then follows North Main, Riley, and East Sixth through Franklin.
  • Riley Boulevard has been extended north to Van Horne, where North River, North Main, and North Riley converge. Riley is now the primary north-south through corridor.
• Middletown
  • SR-122 no longer follows Central, Sutphin, and Grand as shown on the DeLorme maps. Currently, SR-122 follows Central only across the West Middletown bridge, then follows Carmody north, Columbia east, Reinartz east, University south, and Roosevelt Boulevard east to I-75.
  • Traffic on SR-4 and SR-73 between Reinartz Boulevard and Girard Avenue has been split into one-way routes, Clinton Street northbound, and Verity Parkway southbound.
  • Breiel Boulevard has been extended northward, and now connects to Verity Parkway / SR-73.
  • Riviera Drive has been split by the Breiel extension. The western portion runs from Breiel to Krieger and Vannest, while the eastern section from Hamilton Middltown Road is truncated west of its SR-73 access.
  • Rosedale Road has been extended beyond Breiel Boulevard, and now runs between Alamo and Cambridge.

Bicycle-unfriendly traffic signals: (In-pavement sensors—the metal strips criss-crossing the pavement at the approaches to some intersections—are activated by the movement of metal objects above.  A metal-framed bike should trigger a signal cycle if ridden directly over the sensor.  However, some sensors are not sensitive enough to detect bicycles reliably, and composite-material bikes might not be detected in any event.)

• Franklin
  • North Main Street at Riley Boulevard (cross from Main to Riley via Jackson, 1 block south)
• Middletown
  • Highland Street at Grand Avenue
  • Highland Street at Roosevelt Boulevard
  • Manchester Avenue at University Boulevard (use manual button to extend short green)
  • Marshall Road at Manchester Road (manual button available)
  • Orchard Street at Grand Avenue (manual button available)
  • Shafor Street at University Boulevard (use crosswalk or wait for motor traffic to trigger)
  • Woodlawn Avenue at University Boulevard

Hazards:

• Area bordered by Sixth, Yankee, Verity, Fifteenth, and Main: high crime area
• Dicks Creek, south of Oxford State Road: high pollution area
• Roosevelt Boulevard / SR-122, between University and I-75: dense traffic, high accident rate
• Woodlawn Avenue, between University and Richmond: surface chronically wet and muddy

Confusing street names:

• Alameda Circle, The Alameda:
  • Alameda Circle: a loop connecting to the south side of Central at both ends.
  • The Alameda: a north-south street connecting the apex of Alameda Circle to Grand Avenue. (Beyond Grand, The Alameda curves eastward into Lopane Avenue.)
• Manchester Avenue, Manchester Road:
  • Manchester Avenue: an east-west street between Bellemonte and Main, one-way westbound between University and Clinton.
  • Manchester Road (east): a five-lane east-west thoroughfare, between the intersection of Breiel and University Boulevards on the west, and Dixie Highway on the east. Beyond Dixie, Manchester Road continues into Warren County as a two-lane road.
  • Manchester Road (west): a two-lane residential street between Tytus and Hoskin.
• Park Drive, Park Lane, Park Street:
  • Park Drive: a fragmented north-south street, forming two culs-de-sac between Sherman and Grand, running south of Grand to Roosevelt Boulevard, and picking up once again between Goldman and Selden.
  • Park Drive: a loop connected to the southeast side of University at both ends. (At the eastern connection, the street continues north of University as Sunset Street.)
  • Park Street: a street between First and Liberty, dead-ending beyond.
• Roosevelt Boulevard, Roosevelt Avenue:
  • Roosevelt Boulevard / SR-122: a four-lane divided east-west highway between Dixie Highway and University Boulevard; bike-legal but not bike-friendly.
  • Roosevelt Avenue: a bike-friendly two-lane east-west street between Towne and Johns, just west of the Elliot Drive / Roosevelt Boulevard intersection.
• Sunset Park Drive, Sunset Place, Sunset Street:
  • Sunset Park Drive: an east-west access between Kenwood and Bellemonte, blocked midway to form two parking lots for Sunset Park.
  • Sunset Place: a cul-de-sac north of Bellemonte Street.
  • Sunset Street: a north-south street between Vannest and University. (South of University, the street continues as Park Lane.)