By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The missing piece connecting Wood and Lucas counties for bicyclists and pedestrians is a step closer to becoming reality.
Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, announced $850,000 to go toward the design and engineering of a bike/pedestrian bridge across the Maumee River. The funding has been awarded to the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments to continue development of the Chessie Circle Trail.
Building the new bridge will require another bucket of money, estimated between $15 and $16 million. Kaptur said there is support for the construction as well.
“We look forward to adding dollars to that in order to actually build,” she said.
“They are applying for money, and we are going to compete,” Kaptur said of TMACOG. “I’m thrilled.”
The wheels are also turning on the Wood County side of the Maumee River, said Rex Huffman of the Wood County Port Authority.
“Otherwise it’s a trail to nowhere,” Huffman said of the proposed bike/pedestrian bridge.
Last year, the Wood County Park District entered an agreement with the port authority to work on stretches of a multi-use path following abandoned railroad tracks in the northern part of Wood County.
“It’s a big lift for our organization,” Park District Director Chris Smalley said.
Going out for bids next month is the first section from River Road, in the area of the proposed bridge, to Bates Road near the W.W. Knight Preserve. The path would tie in at the park, so bicyclists and pedestrians can use park facilities, Smalley said.
The next stretch to be worked on will be from Bates Road east to Lime City Road, then to Rossford.
To the east of Wood County, the North Coast Inland Trail has made it as far as Genoa. Ottawa County park officials want to extend it to the county line near Millbury, where Wood County park officials would take over.
“We can start to string these pearls together,” Smalley said of the communities that will eventually be linked by a bike/pedestrian trail.
For years, when park patrons would ask about a link to Lucas County’s multi-use paths, Smalley would remark that it could happen, maybe “someday.” He can now respond more positively.
“Someday is here,” Smalley said.
Huffman said just as infrastructure doesn’t stop at boundaries between governmental entities, neither should bike/pedestrian trails. He said such multi-use paths are “crucial to economic development.”
Kaptur and local leaders highlighted the active regional partnership that has helped develop the regional trail network including the Chessie Circle, which will expand into northern Wood County in the coming years.
“When local and federal entities come together, we can achieve great things. This is a transformative federal investment in recreation that will connect our communities and open up so many new possibilities,” Kaptur said. “The Chessie Circle Trail connection project will provide another source of transportation and recreation to our Northwest Ohio region, while expanding disadvantaged communities’ access to jobs, educational opportunities, and housing options.”
The Chessie Circle Trail, an 11-mile multi-use path built on a former rail corridor, is an example of regional partnership needed to coordinate development across community boundaries. A consortium of local stakeholders purchased the property in October 2011 with a combination of $7.6 million in federal funds through Kaptur’s office plus $1 million in local matching funds.
Local partners who now own sections of the corridor are Metroparks Toledo, the University of Toledo, the City of Toledo, Wood County Park District, and Wood County Port Authority.
The group worked with TMACOG to guide trail development through a regional coordinating committee. Metroparks Toledo built the first section of trail in 2017 between River Road and Glanzman Road in South Toledo. The City of Toledo continued development between Bowman Park and University Hills Boulevard in West Toledo.
The existing trail averages hundreds of users per day, even in the winter, and many more in the spring and summer. Additional Wood County sections will be built in the next few years, with plans to pursue expansion even further throughout the region.
Multi-use paths better connect communities when coordinated across boundaries and allow people of all abilities to access recreation and alternative transportation options, said Sandy Spang, TMACOG executive director.
“The Chessie Circle Trail is a success story for regional partnership and coordination,” Spang said. “We believe that developing new sections will make the Chessie Circle Trail one of the most popular trails in our region. However, we still face the challenge of creating a more direct connection between Lucas and Wood counties across the Maumee River.”
This funding will allow TMACOG and the Chessie Circle Coordinating Committee to engineer ways to create new trail sections and make connections with other pieces of the regional trail network.
“Quality of life issues like an interconnected trail network are an important piece of economic development. Things like this are what younger generations are looking for when they’re deciding where they want to live, work, and potentially raise a family,” Huffman said.
“Being able to attract and retain people as part of our region’s workforce in turn makes the area more attractive to businesses looking to relocate or expand their operations,” Huffman said. “Having a robust trail network is part of how we maintain a healthy, vibrant workforce that employers need.”
