$1.1 million awarded to Park District of Ottawa County to extend North Coast Inland Trail
PORT CLINTON ― The Park District of Ottawa County has been selected to receive $1.119 million in federal funding to extend the North Coast Inland Trail from its existing terminus at Washington Street in the Village of Genoa, over Packer Creek, finishing to Ninth Street.
“Receiving these funds is a huge milestone for the park district and the Village of Genoa,” Jannah Wilson, park district executive director, said. “Bringing the North Coast Inland Trail through the village will provide additional outdoor recreation opportunities to the surrounding community and Northwest Ohio. The park district has worked on acquiring funding for this portion of the trail for several years and we are extremely grateful to ODOT for supporting this initiative through the Transportation Alternatives Program.”
The extension project traverses through Genoa’s Main Street Historic District and creates trail access to retail, restaurants, professional, medical and governmental offices and historic sites, some constructed in the 1880s and recognized with Ohio Historical Markers.
“The North Coast Inland trail is currently about a 75-mile route, it’s a four-county route that goes from Lorain County to Huron County, then Sandusky County and into Ottawa county, with Ottawa really being the last to be completed. For years, and years and years, people have tried to figure out how to extend the trail through Ottawa County, but it’s been a challenge,” Wilson said. “In 2018, the county received funding to extend the trail along the old railroad corridor from Elmore to Genoa, so that was a really big step, however, the abandoned railroad extends into Millbury, which is in Wood County.”
From Wood County, a connection could be made to Lucas County.
“Also, with this $1.1 million we have to construct a bridge over Packer Creek,” Wilson said.
She estimated that the bridge will cost about $500,000.
“The bridge is very pricey but critically important to the trail extension. The other kind of expensive component is that we are taking it right through the city of Genoa. There’s quite a bit of infrastructure that will have to be relocated or adjusted,” Willson said.
They are purchasing some properties, but most of the trail is going to utilize village rights-of-way, passing the fire station, the library, the Genoa Town Hall, the Genoa Civic Theater and back onto the former rail bed.
Wilson said modifications include streetlights, widening of sidewalks, and adding or changing sidewalks to wider multi-use path specifications.
Wilson compared the complexity of the short Genoa section to the longer straight railbed that leads to the town.
“This is a little bit more intricate, where we have several street crossings, crosswalks, with the writing features, and moving streetlights, moving electrical boxes, widening sidewalks and just working through some of those complex components,” Wilson explained.
Once completed, the trail will connect the four counties with Wood and Lucas counties.
The NCIT Phase 1 Village of Genoa Extension Project was selected for funding in the Transportation Alternatives Program through the Ohio Department of Transportation. Funding was applied for in October. ODOT has slated construction for the project to take place in 2027.
The Transportation Alternatives Program provides funding for projects defined as transportation alternatives, including on-and off-road pedestrian and bicycle facilities, infrastructure projects for improving non-driver access to public transportation and enhanced mobility, community improvement activities, environmental mitigation, recreational trail program projects and safe routes to school projects.
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This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: $1.1 million awarded for North Coast Inland Trail extension
