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Warren hoping to secure funding to construct Greenway trailhead at North River Road
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
City officials are applying to the federal Transportation Alternatives Program to acquire money to help with construction of a trailhead alongside the Western Reserve Greenway hike and bike trail.
If the money is secured, the city would construct a 28-space parking area, shelter, water fountain and other amenities on the north side of North River Road in 2016 or 2017.
The city seeks 80 percent ($220,000) of the $275,000 project from TAP. The city also is seeking funds from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The trailhead would be constructed on an 11-acre site owned by the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., which recently approved a resolution agreeing to donate the land to the city if the project is funded.
The city previously obtained the money and had the engineering work completed for the trailhead. It is now working with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to mitigate wetlands at the site, according to the grant application.
The city completed three sections of the Warren Bikeway through the city in 2010 and 2013, and Trumbull County officials completed the section of the Western Reserve Greenway from Champion Street to North River Road this spring.
The trailhead will be at the location where the Warren and county parts of the trail connect. The Trumbull County portions of the trail are part of the Great Ohio Lake-To-River Greenway, which is nearly complete from Ashtabula to Canfield. It eventually will span 110 miles from Lake Erie at Ashtabula to the Ohio River at East Liverpool.
A final Trumbull section from Warren to Niles is in the planning stages.
The nearest trailhead to the one proposed for North River Road is more than 3 miles north at the Sunside Trailhead at state Route 305 in Champion. The county also has a trailhead about 6 miles north of the Sunside Trailhead at Hyde Oakfield Road in Bristol Township.
Niles has a trailhead about 7 miles south of North River Road.