EDWARD FITZGERALD Cuyahoga County Executive

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts: John Kohlstrand: (216) 698-2099 or jkohlstrand@cuyahogacounty.us Nicole Dailey Jones: (216) 263-4602, (216)338-0863 or ndjones@cuyahogacounty.us

GRANT APPROVAL MEANS TOWPATH TRAIL EXPANSION TO BEGIN NEXT YEAR

CLEVELAND Work will begin next year on an expansion of the Towpath Trail in the city of Cleveland, thanks to a $500,000 state grant approved earlier today by the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission. The $500,000 grant is the last piece of funding necessary to move forward with a plan to build a new 0.6 mile section of the Towpath Trail on the Scranton Peninsula, along Scranton Road from Carter Road south to University Road. Improvements will include a new 10-foot wide pathway, landscaping, restoration of fish habitat in the Cuyahoga River, signage and amenities. The project will be bid early next year by the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works. It will be primarily funded by a previously-announced $3 million grant from the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The expansion is part of a larger joint effort by Cuyahoga County government, the city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Metroparks and the Ohio Canal Corridor organization to extend the Towpath Trail from its current terminus at the southern border of Cleveland, near Cuyahoga Heights, to a Canal Basin Park proposed for downtown Cleveland near Settlers Landing. The Towpath Trail so named because it largely follows the towpath used by horses to pull barges along the old Ohio and Erie Canal is largely complete from Zoar, south of Canton, to the Cleveland city limits. The only section now complete in the city of Cleveland is near the Steelyard Commons shopping center. This grant, and the construction work to come, represents another step forward in fully connecting this important regional resource to downtown Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said. This will mean a more attractive riverfront and a cleaner environment. This is good news for Cuyahoga County. ###