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View of river is highlight on path that will connect to others
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Jun 06, 2009
KENT: Until now, it is possible the only living creatures in recent times who have gotten a peek at a section of the Cuyahoga River on the west side of Kent have been people in canoes, fish in the river and wildlife in the woods.
A picturesque stretch along the river in a section of the former Pennsylvania & Ohio canal bed will be opened to hikers and bikers with the dedication at 11 a.m. today of a 1.4-mile section of the Portage Hike & Bike Trail starting at Fred Fuller Park on Middlebury Road.
''Doesn't this rival the [Cuyahoga Valley] National Park?'' asked Kent Parks and Recreation Director John Idone.
''It is beautiful,'' he said, as he
pointed out deer tracks along the trail and a wild turkey in a tree.
The dedication today comes on National Trails Day.
The trail is expected to connect someday with a trail planned on the Freedom Secondary, an abandoned railroad bed between Kent and Akron. Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, is planning the trail that would run from the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad's Northside Depot to the Summit-Portage line to connect to Kent's trail.
The Kent trail is designed as a connector between the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and the Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway, which will go from Asthabula to the Ohio River, Idone said.
''We are the major east-west connection between these two primary north-and-south trails,'' he said.
The new Kent bike-and-hike path features two major engineering projects: a 176-foot bridge across the river and a more than 600-foot-long boardwalk that gives users of the trail a new view along the river.
The boardwalk presented some design difficulties, Idone said.
It was built to go around the Kent city sewage plant, and to erect the boardwalk and keep it stable, 100 35-foot telephone poles were driven 20 feet into the ground, Idone said.
Federal funds paid about $720,000 of the $1.35 million cost; the remaining $630,000 came from local parks and recreation funds, Idone said.
In the planning stages is a three-fourths-mile extension of the trail from Fred Fuller Park eastward to John Brown Tannery Park, expected to be done in the next several years, Idone said.
It is hoped, Idone said, that the trail on the river will bring economic benefits to the city of Kent.
With Kent State University, the Cuyahoga River, parks and trails in Kent, Idone said, the city will ''hopefully rival Peninsula'' as a tourist attraction someday.
Kent Parks and Recreation board member Pete Orlando is thinking big as well.
''I am looking for this to be bigger than Peninsula and busier,'' he said, referring to the northern Summit County community that is in the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Even before the new trail was officially opened and finished, people were hiking it.
''It's beautiful,'' said Barb Davis of Kent, who walked the trail late this week with her husband, Merl. ''We will certainly use it.''
While walking the trail, Idone pointed out the wildlife and nature that can be seen from the path.
''It is hard to imagine you are still in the city limits of Kent,'' he said.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
KENT: Until now, it is possible the only living creatures in recent times who have gotten a peek at a section of the Cuyahoga River on the west side of Kent have been people in canoes, fish in the river and wildlife in the woods.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Orrville, Oh
Posted 01:45 PM, 06/06/2009
EPA bureaucrats support blacktopping Amish, Biking, and Hiking Trails with hazardous waste derived from oil.
Spreading Blacktop on soil so rainwater cannot percolate through soil into aquifer; Kills Human Beings that need food and water for life!
