Mill Creek seeks federal grant to improve hike, bike trail

By JORDYN GRZELEWSKI

jgrzelewski@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mill Creek MetroParks

is set to submit an application by today’s deadline for grant funding to improve the East Cohasset Hike & Bike Trail.

The park seeks money from the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Alternatives Program, which would cover 80 percent of the undetermined cost.

The project would include several improvements to the northern half of the 1.5-mile trail, between Ottawa Drive and Old Furnace Road. The park completed a $335,000 project using TAP funds on 0.8 of a mile of the trail a few years ago.

This project would be similar in cost, said Steve Avery, the park’s planning and natural resources director. The park paid approximately $65,000 for its share of the earlier work.

Improvements would include repaving asphalt surfaces, replacing and repairing drainage structures and pipes, replacing guardrails and cleaning and repointing stone walls, Avery said.

“It’s a historic road that’s been closed [to vehicles] for quite a few years and converted into a pedestrian trail. It’s part of an ongoing effort of maintaining and renovating and improving the existing facilities in the MetroParks, and this specific location is historic,” Avery said.

“It’s actually the first road, the first drive, in Mill Creek Park,” he said of East Cohasset Drive, site of the trail.

If the park succeeds in securing grant funds, for which it applies through Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, work likely would begin in 2017, Avery said.

Youngstown resident Debbie Badger was out walking near the trail Wednesday morning with her dog, Buddy, a cairn terrier. She regularly walks in the park, she said.

“It’s a real asset to Youngstown,” she said, adding that she likes coming to the park because she feels safe bringing Buddy there.

“It’s nice. We can come here and have some open spaces,” she said. “We bring [the dog] to the park every morning and evening. ... He loves coming here.”