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Walkway to span Brandywine Creek in northern Summit
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:58 p.m. EDT, Oct 20, 2009
Volunteers from the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council and National Park Service staffers are installing a new $190,000 trail bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley.
The three-section pedestrian bridge will stretch 165 feet over Brandywine Creek in northern Summit County.
Work on the fiberglass bridge began last Saturday and will continue through Friday off Stanford Road in Sagamore Hills Township.
It replaces a stream crossing on rocks that was risky in high water.
The Cuyahoga Valley National Park will pay for the bridge with money from park rentals and from admission fees paid at other national parks.
The bridge that is 4 feet wide is to be dedicated 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
Speakers will include acting park Superintendent Paul J. Stoehr; Deb Yandala, chief executive officer of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association; and Dave Daams, president of the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council.
The bridge is the first project in a new program to fix, restore and expand trails in the 33,000-acre federal park.
The goal of the Trails Forever program is to raise a $10 million endowment by 2016 and use the interest income on the money to fund the trail work.
The program, set up by the park service and the association, is designed to ensure that the Cuyahoga Valley will have a top-quality trail system in the future, safe from the fluctuations of federal budgets with strong local support.
The park has a definite need for such a program, officials said.
The new trail money would augment, not replace, what funds the Cuyahoga Valley park gets for trail work from the federal government.
The park typically gets about $100,000 a year for trail work.
The new program, the brainchild of retired former Superintendent John P. Debo Jr., is closely patterned after a program that was started in 1999 at Acadia National Park in Maine.
Similar programs have sprung up at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina.
For more information, go to http://www.cvnpa.org/trailsforever.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Volunteers from the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council and National Park Service staffers are installing a new $190,000 trail bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley.
The three-section pedestrian bridge will stretch 165 feet over Brandywine Creek in northern Summit County.
Work on the fiberglass bridge began last Saturday and will continue through Friday off Stanford Road in Sagamore Hills Township.
It replaces a stream crossing on rocks that was risky in high water.
The Cuyahoga Valley National Park will pay for the bridge with money from park rentals and from admission fees paid at other national parks.
The bridge that is 4 feet wide is to be dedicated 1 p.m. Nov. 1.
Speakers will include acting park Superintendent Paul J. Stoehr; Deb Yandala, chief executive officer of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association; and Dave Daams, president of the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council.
The bridge is the first project in a new program to fix, restore and expand trails in the 33,000-acre federal park.
The goal of the Trails Forever program is to raise a $10 million endowment by 2016 and use the interest income on the money to fund the trail work.
The program, set up by the park service and the association, is designed to ensure that the Cuyahoga Valley will have a top-quality trail system in the future, safe from the fluctuations of federal budgets with strong local support.
The park has a definite need for such a program, officials said.
The new trail money would augment, not replace, what funds the Cuyahoga Valley park gets for trail work from the federal government.
The park typically gets about $100,000 a year for trail work.
The new program, the brainchild of retired former Superintendent John P. Debo Jr., is closely patterned after a program that was started in 1999 at Acadia National Park in Maine.
Similar programs have sprung up at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina.
For more information, go to http://www.cvnpa.org/trailsforever.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Macedonia, OH
Posted 01:42 AM, 10/21/2009
This seems lame to me. Its maybe 25ft crossing hopscotching across rocks Why would a 165ft bridge be needed? 10-15 days a year it may be impassable. Otherwise its not that challenging getting across. $200k seems to be a lot for so little usage.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:53 AM, 10/21/2009
I hate to see this bridge go in. Preserve the natural landscape as much as possible- that was of the course the goal behind the original bridge.
Are we too sensitive to get our ankles wet?
Posted 09:29 AM, 10/21/2009
What a waste of resources. Lets pave the trails next. Nothing says nature more than a bridge and asphalt trails.
Can we please have a decent mountain bike trail next. A real mountain bike trail like every other state park has...no the bike and hike does not count. That is a road.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:29 AM, 10/21/2009
@flashbax812, they are probably more concerned with someone slipping on the rocks and breaking a leg or drowning. Now a days, it would be a lawsuit(s) for sure.
Besides, if this trail is popular, or becomes popular, the bridge preserves and protects the creek.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:15 AM, 10/21/2009
@Gain Some Reality:
I agree that litigation is a likely inspiration here. I just think that at some point you take your own safety in your hands. The National Parks are for preserving our natural heritage.
@Wayne: My thoughts exactly.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:45 AM, 10/21/2009
@flashbax812, I would think a bridge does a lot less damage to nature than the damage caused by dozens of people walking through the creek and eroding the creek shores.
Posted 10:49 AM, 10/21/2009
At least the money is going into something that can be touched and will be usefull. There is a lot more money out there being spent on really useless things...I would pick and choose what I would complain about...and this is not one of them.
kento, oh
Posted 11:16 AM, 10/21/2009
At first I was thinking yeah lets keep it natural, but I have to say Gain Some Reality has a valid point that as traffic increases it wouldn't be so good for the creek.
Rittman, Oh
Posted 11:31 AM, 10/21/2009
Okay, lets say I buy the errosion from foot traffic argument, which I dont. (waking on rocks?) Even then, isnt there a less costly way for shoring up this crossing to withstand foot traffic errosion besides a $190,000 bridge?
Posted 11:32 AM, 10/21/2009
Why are volunteers erecting this bridge? Shouldn't it be left to people who know a little about construction?
Akron, OH
Posted 01:12 PM, 10/21/2009
@RittmanInsider, I have helped with trail building and trail restoration. Even crossing on rocks does damage to the creek bed and creates unnatural obstacles that change water flow, animal behaviors, and create barriers for debris to collect. Plus, the rocks do not go beyond the water edge which means the shorelines is being destroyed by the foot traffic and the plants that grow along the water's edge.
Also, rock crossing are rarely used in creeks that can go above 2-feet in depth, which this one easily does quite often.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:45 PM, 10/21/2009
@ GSMR
good point
Rittman, Oh
Posted 02:28 PM, 10/21/2009
GSMR, I too have lots of experience with NATURAL obstacles that "change water flow, animal behaviors, and create barriers for debris to collect." Every natural stream changes its flow path over time, without any human activity, due to normal weather and trees on the banks eventually caving in or falling down. If we are worried about errosion on the banks form foot traffic having a significant impact (Im not), it could be avoided with gravel or adding rock base going up and down the banks. People all over Ohio have drivways running across creeks of this size, and I am here to say that you can cross a creek for a lot less than a $190,000 bridge. Since when is a $190,000 bridge anything close to being a part of nature?
Too many kids grow up believing "nature" is mowed and landscaped grass, trimmed trees, cleared brush, cut briars, streams free of natural debris, wood chip hiking paths, gravel and paved trails, and expensive bridges. If you want to hike "in nature" and you intend to cross a stream, bring your boots, and dont expect the taxpayers to buy you a $190,000 bridge so you dont get your socks wet.
Akron, OH
Posted 04:10 PM, 10/21/2009
@RittmanInsider, if you are so worried about nature, you would not be promoting a MAN-MADE rock crossing (which is very different than all the nature created ones you mention) or pouring gravel all over the banks of the creek.
Putting a bridge on a public trail is not a waste of money. This is not an outback trail for those going off trail, which is what you are suggesting. there are different areas available for those excursions.
CFalls, OH
Posted 09:49 PM, 10/21/2009
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Greg
Posted 11:32 AM, 10/21/2009 Why are volunteers erecting this bridge? Shouldn't it be left to people who know a little about construction?
Not necessarily. If you have two of three professionals to direct and instruct they will be fine.
I suspect the volunteers will be mostly the muscle to get things moved and lifted.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:08 PM, 10/23/2009
@Greg, how do you know the "volunteers" do not have construction experience? "Volunteer" only means they are not getting paid. It does not mean they are inexperienced.
