Multi-use path almost complete

NORWALK — The city's new multi-use path should be completed by the end of May. "It's basically ready to be paved with asphalt," Public Works Director Aaron Osborn said Wednesday morning. "It's basically 95 percent done." Erie Blacktop will begin paving on Monday. Osborn said the paving work should be done by May 31. The new path will be 10 feet wide and will run about two miles. And like many trails in the U.S., it will take advantage of an old train line. "The multi-use path will primarily utilize the abandoned railroad corridor owned by the city, including extending through the underpass bridges at Cleveland Road and East Main Street," Osborn said. The Norwalk Multi-Use Path, costing $1.275 million with most of the tab picked up by the state, will stretch across much of the city and will tie together many important recreation sites and existing paths, Osborn said. "The multi-use path will connect the Alex Waite Trail at Veteran's Memorial Lake Park to the Norwalk Area Friends of Youth Sports/Norwalk Area Contractors Park, Whitney Field, the Lefty Grove Baseball Fields, the Norwalk City Ernsthausen Recreation Center, the North Coast Inland Trail, USBR 30, and USBR 65 along with residential and commercial areas in the community," Osborn said in an email. "It will truly be a valued asset for the city residents." "USBR 30" refers to U.S. Bike Route 30, which runs from Detroit through Toledo and Norwalk, then on to Cleveland and Erie, Pennsylvania, with much of it along the North Coast Inland Trail. The other bicycle route Osborn referenced, State Bike Route 65, runs south from Sandusky through Norwalk and Mansfield and points beyond, including Newark, Lancaster and Ironton. The North Coast Inland Trail runs through several counties in northern Ohio and is still uncompleted in some places; Huron County has a 20-mile stretch from Bellevue through Monroeville and Norwalk to Collins. The Ohio Department of Transportation's Transportation Alternatives Program provided a $1.2 million grant for the project, Osborn said. "As you can imagine, we couldn't have done this without the grant funds from ODOT. They deserve a big thank you." Osborn said.