Work at Mill Creek Park along trail will fix retaining wall at midpoint

State and federal funds are covering 87.5 percent of the project cost.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Work is about halfway done on a project to restore the retaining wall along Mill Creek Park’s East Cohasset hike-bike trail.

Steve Avery, chief landscape architect at the park, said the project started in early December with substantial completion expected in March, depending on Mother Nature’s cooperation.

Aspects of the job such as asphalt application will have to wait for warmer weather.

“It’s the retaining wall that collapsed during the FEMA storm events,” Avery said, referring to the torrential downpours of the summer of 2003.

The retaining wall along the trail fell down the hill, taking a portion of the road with it. The 1.5-mile East Cohasset trail winds along the lake atop a hill, offering a view of the lake and the suspension bridge.

The work is between Lake and Ottawa drives.

The Trispan Corp. of New Middletown is the contractor for the $108,300 project.

Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is covering 75 percent of the cost with Ohio EMA kicking in 12.5 percent and the park district footing the bill for the remainder.

In summer 2003, storm water rushed across the asphalt and knocked out an 80-foot-long stone retaining wall that had held up the trail since the 1890s.

The stones from the retaining wall, as well as the side of the trail, fell to the hillside below.

Those same rains caused several roads within the park to close and washed away sections of the East and West Newport hiking trails.

The trail has remained open since the damage, with barricades in place directing pedestrians and bicyclists around the fallen portion.

Before the wall collapse, there had been discussions of reopening the East Cohasset trail to vehicle traffic. The wall collapse stalled those discussions, and no decision has been made.

Avery described the trail as popular and widely used although not to the degree of the East Golf trail.

East Cohasset “is more natural and longer,” he said. “It’s much more scenic and parklike.”

For those looking for those elements in a hike or bike ride, the landscape architect believes the East Cohasset trail is a destination.