Bike path getting its final touches

NORWALK — The city's multi-use path is now 98 percent complete. That's what Norwalk Public Works Director Aaron Osborn said after crews from Erie Blacktop finished installing blacktop along the path last week. "It's not completed yet," Osborn said. "They still have to finish up seed and straw and they still have some striping to do. They also still have to install bollards that separate the path from Akron Road." "It's probably 98% done," Osborn said. "They have a few things left, but it's pretty much done." The new path is 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 Veterans 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," Osborn said. "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, Pa., with much of it along the North Coast Inland Trail. The other bike 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 though 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."