Park District Awarded $1.5 million in Grants for Headwaters Trail
The Portage Park District is ready to proceed with the next phases of Headwaters Trail in Mantua Township, thanks to $1.5 million in state and federal grants that were recently awarded to add 2.9 miles to the existing 8.5 miles between Garrettsville and Mantua Village.
The previous phases of multipurpose trail had been constructed on sections of the former Erie Lackawana Railroad corridor previously sold to private property owners, then later purchased for trail use, piece by piece. In 2023, the Park District was able to acquire two important sections of the former railroad corridor, a ~2,400-foot trail lease from First Energy Corporation who had previously purchased the corridor from Norfolk Southern Railway, and a ~400-foot section of corridor purchased from Jerry and Heather Carlton. With the right-of-way finally secured, the Park District applied for and received a $500,000 Clean Ohio Trails grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for Phase VIII, a 1.37-mile section from Chamberlain Road east to Diagonal Road.
The Park District was also recently awarded a $1,000,000 federal ‘Transportation Alternatives Set Aside’ grant from AMATS for Headwaters Trail Phase IX, a 1.5-mile separated path located within the public road rights-of-way between Diagonal and Mennonite Roads, avoiding a section of privately-owned railroad corridor that was not available for purchase. “We’re so excited to have this long-planned section of trail finally acquired and funded,” said Christine Craycroft, Executive Director, “the Headwaters Trail is the result of wonderful public/private partnerships at all levels of community; we greatly appreciate these matching grants that stretch our local levy dollars even further.”
Engineering for both phases will begin this spring, though Phase VIII will likely not open until 2025. Phase IX is slated to receive construction funding in 2027. Meanwhile, the City of Aurora will be developing their “Aurora Trail” on the corridor from Chamberlain Road west to SR 82 in Aurora, with potential for further extensions in the future.
