The popular Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail is getting closer to downtown Akron.
Work on extending the hike-and-bike trail from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (the Akron Innerbelt) to Lock 2 Park behind the Canal Park stadium is expected to begin July 1 and take about six months, said city spokesman Ken Kostura.
The work, to cost $1,041,326, will be done by Karvo Paving Co. of Cuyahoga Falls.
The city's Board of Control approved the contract May 15.
The project -- known as Phase 2B -- will extend the trail 2,138 feet and will route the path from the east side of the Innerbelt along Dart Avenue and Ash, West Bowery and Water streets.
That will require sidewalk, curb and street improvements before the section of trail that descends to Lock 2 is built, said Akron planner Tom Long.
A new bridge across the canal will be needed to get hikers and bicyclists to Lock 2 Park, he said.
Currently, work is wrapping up on another stretch of the trail through the Cascade Locks Park just north of downtown Akron.
That is one of the toughest stretches of trail to build because it is next to five canal locks in a narrow gorge that rises about 80 feet in a quarter mile.
That work, by the Cavanaugh Building Corp. at a cost of $2.7 million, is expected to be complete by early July. It will extend the trail by 5,000 feet. Construction began last September.
The 10-foot-wide asphalt trail will run south along the west bank of the canal from a new 29-car parking lot off West North Street.
At Lock 10, a bridge will carry hikers and bikers to the east bank of the canal south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (the Akron Innerbelt).
Pedestrians then will be routed up Beech Street to North Main Street. They can head south on Main to connect with the Towpath Trail at Lock 3 Park and follow it to Lock 2 Park.
Bicyclists, however, will have to wait for construction of what's called Phase 2A. That section will run from Beech Street-Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard along the west side of the Innerbelt.
There will be a tunnel under the Rand Avenue ramp and a new trail bridge across the Innerbelt's northbound lanes. The trail will then connect with the Phase 2B section on the downtown side of the Innerbelt.
An additional parking lot is planned at Beech Street and the canal.
The 2A section will cost $1,966,500 and is scheduled to be bid late this year and constructed next year, Kostura said.
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