By the end of today, the Slippery Elm Trail will be ready for riders and walkers on the entire 13 miles of asphalt stretching between Bowling Green and North Baltimore.
For the past week, the trail has been getting its first resurfacing since its construction in 1995. Though the Slippery Elm has been periodically patched up and had cracks sealed during the last three decades, this is the first complete resurfacing of the trail, according to Andrew Kalmar, assistant director of the Wood County Park District.
The work began with Gerken Paving milling butt-joints at all the road intersections and at all connecting trails such as the Black Swamp Preserve Trail and the Kenwood Trail, both in Bowling Green. This entailed grinding the pavement across the width of the trail or connecting trail to a depth of 1.5 to 2 inches, 3 to 4 feet wide.
Then paving began at the northern most spot on the trail, at Sand Ridge Road in Bowling Green. Originally, it was anticipated that one mile of paving would occur each day – taking about two weeks.
However, on some days Gerken Paving brought in a second crew, which sped up the project.
By mid-day today (June 30), a crew was moving southward on the section of trail between Freyman Road and Hammansburg Road, almost to the village of North Baltimore.
Last year, an Ohio Department of Transportation grant of $1,092,804 was awarded to the Wood County Park District to resurface the 13-mile trail that runs from Bowling Green to North Baltimore. The Slippery Elm Trail was one of 44 projects in 33 Ohio counties to receive a Transportation Alternatives Program grant. The grants targeted projects that support safer, more connected spaces for walking and biking.
The park district submitted a request for about 80% of the projected costs to pave the full length of the trail with about an inch and a half of overlay.
To help cover the total cost, the park district invested $155,000 of its budget and the Friends of the Parks committed $25,000 for the project.
Wood County Engineer John Musteric agreed that his office would serve as the engineer for the project, which will save the park district and the taxpayers even more money.
