MOUNT VERNON — The first of three public hearings for a proposed $25 million multi-use trail project — initially known as the Wally Road Multi-modal Corridor, and now called the Mohican Greenway Corridor Plan — was held Tuesday evening in the Memorial Building ballroom, with a light attendance of about 20 people.
The project, which is in the concept plan phase through October, would create a multi-use trail along a 16.5-mile stretch of Wally Road, connecting the Bridge of Dreams near Brinkhaven northward along Wally Road to Riverside Park in Loudonville and a bike trail nearby. The project involves three different counties, Knox as well as Holmes and Ashland counties, with about 4 miles of the proposed project in Holmes County, 3.5 miles in Ashland County, and the rest, or the majority of the 16.5 miles, in Knox County.
The public can also provide comments on the Mohican Greenway Corridor Plan by completing a survey at www.mohicangreenway.com
Project advocates have offered that the recreational benefits of a multi-use trail along Wally Road, which mostly follows the Mohican River, would help serve 1 million visitors per year who take part in camping, hiking, canoeing and kayaking on the Wally Road Scenic Byway and the Mohican Scenic River Valley.
Holmes County Engineer Chris Young told Knox County audience members there is another major reason besides tourism the Mohican corridor trail is needed — safety. It involves the sheer volume of traffic along the road, which essentially follows the river. Young has taken a lead on the Mohican Greenway Corridor Plan from the beginning, Knox County Engineer Cameron Keaton informed Knox County Commissioners in late June.
“Wally Road is unsafe for people biking and jogging,” Young told Tuesday’s audience. “And it’s only going to get worse.”
Though Wally Road is relatively flat and was recently paved, the sheer volume of traffic, including bicyclists, has made it increasingly dangerous, Greenway corridor advocates said. One of them, Amy Smith, is a member of the concept plan’s steering committee. She said to fellow audience members that county engineers from the three counties should be given the trust and latitude it will take to successfully find funding to build such an ambitious multi-use trail project.
Smith owns Smith’s Pleasant Valley Campground & Cabins, with 170 camping spaces that are part of 2,000 total campground spaces along the Wally Road Scenic Byway.
“These trails are not just for tourists,” she said. “They’re about quality of life for the residents.”
Jeremy Hint, a senior landscape architect with OHM, was asked following the meeting if there has been opposition to the project. He said some landowners, including farmers, have expressed opposition because of concerns that trail users would encroach upon or vandalize their properties. But Smith said the Mohican Greenway Corridor Plan easily fits into the state’s Walk.Bike.Ohio plan, which provides Ohio’s first policies for investment of state resources in walking and biking.
Hinte said the three county engineers are looking at grant funds in order to secure $25 million for the project. Thus far as per funding, the three engineers put about $16,000 each from their budgets into the contract with OHM to provide conceptual plan guidance.
Ideally, he said, the three counties would apply for up to $30 million in federal BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) grants, and all at one time rather than dividing the project into proposed phases. At 16.5 miles in length, the Mohican Greenway Corridor Plan is certainly capable of being funded and then constructed as one continuous project, he offered.
Depending on how the public receives the project, funding could be secured by the end of the year after grant applications are made, according to an OHM tentative project timeline. The timeline proposes the final corridor plan be developed during the first half of next year, with construction to occur in 2021.
