MILL CREEK PARK Bicyclists, pedestrians say they support trail

The proposed trail link would keep pedestrians and bicyclists out of heavy traffic.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sentiment seemed to be generally favorable to a proposed hiking and bicycling trail that would connect East and West Newport drives in Mill Creek Park and allow pedestrians and bicyclists to avoid busy Shields Road and Sheban Drive.
"It's very dangerous around Shields Road, so I'm looking forward to a safe alternative to the traffic pattern that we currently have," said Deborah Marik, who lives on the city's West Side and regularly hikes on trails around Lake Newport. She favors the trail link.
Nancy Brundage of Canfield, an avid bird-watcher and vice president of the Audubon Society of the Mahoning Valley, said she favors the trail link for safety reasons. "I don't see where it will have much of a negative environmental impact," she said.
"As a bicyclist and a runner, I support it fully. It's a definite improvement in safety and convenience," said Bill Richardson of Liberty, a member of the Youngstown Road Runners Club and the Outspokin' Wheelmen bicycling club.
The 850-foot-long, 10-foot-wide asphalt-paved trail, including a bridge over Mill Creek, is scheduled to be built late next summer and would be fully funded by a $164,000 federal grant, which has already been approved, said Steve Avery, chief landscape architect for Mill Creek MetroParks.
Heavy vehicular traffic
Shields Road carries an average of more than 20,000 cars a day, Avery said. Speaking during a meeting in which park officials took public comments Monday evening in the Davis Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens, he also said traffic has increased 72 percent on Sheban Drive in the past 20 years.
"Both of those roads currently are really not a very pleasant place to be on a bicycle or as a pedestrian," because of the speed and volume of traffic and narrowness of the roads, Avery said.
Lucky Kaiser, who lives on Sheban Drive, said the trail is unnecessary and would interfere with a wildflower area. She said she would prefer strict enforcement of the 25 mph speed limit on Sheban Drive with a three-way stop at West Newport and Sheban drives to improve safety.
Noel F. Mehlo Jr., an environmental specialist with the Ohio Department of Transportation, said it would be desirable to complete the connector for pedestrians and bicyclists before construction starts on widening Shields Road and replacing the Shields Road bridge. Mehlo said he thinks the bridge replacement, during which traffic will be narrowed to one lane, will occur in 2004.