Employees for Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, worked this week to clear debris left from a July 4 storm that struck Goodyear Heights Metro Park in East Akron to allow the trails to be reopened to visitors this weekend.
The trails were closed as a precaution because of downed limbs, many still stuck in trees, that posed a threat to hikers, spokesman Rob Peters said at a parks board meeting Thursday.
More than 100 large trees snapped in the storm, many at 10 to 15 feet off the ground, he said.
Peters called the damage among the worst to hit the park district in the past 20 years.
Wind affected all areas of Goodyear Heights Metro Park, he said. Rain and hail also contributed to the damage.
The park district used four crews working the cleanup, Peters said.
In other news from the board meeting, the park district’s two swimming areas, Munroe Falls and Silver Creek, both set daily attendance records July 4, Peters said.
Munroe Falls, off South River Road in Munroe Falls, got 3,377 visitors, while Silver Creek in Norton got 862 swimmers, he said.
The board agreed to hire the University of Akron for up to $7,500 to conduct an archaeological survey of the Hardy Road Landfill area that is now part of Hampton Hills Metro Park on the Akron-Cuyahoga Falls border.
The preliminary assessment indicates there is a medium to high probability of finding a significant archaeological site on the 375 acres that surround the 100-acre landfill that closed in 2002.
The park commissioners also agreed to seek a request for proposals from companies interested in designing and creating new interpretive signs at Deep Lock Quarry Metro Park in Peninsula.
In 2010, the park district hired Rogers Co. to develop a booklet on the park’s history. Now the park district wants to create new interpretive signs on the quarrying and canal history at the park.
Paul Wilkerson, the park district’s chief of planning and development, said work is continuing on a new pedestrian bridge over Interstate 271 at Brandywine Falls. The concrete deck is being installed and the bridges approaches have been paved.
The new bridge, 300 feet long, could be completed by late July, he said. It was lowered by crane into place in late June.
It is part of $3.3 million project to relocate the Bike & Hike Trail and get the trail off busy and dangerous Brandywine Road in Northfield Center and Sagamore Hills townships.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
