KNOX COUNTY – Knox County will use $498,000 from a Clean Ohio Trails Fund award to pave 1.07 miles of the Ohio to Erie Trail in the county, the Knox County Park District director said.
"This particular section of trail is critically important because it is the last section of Knox County's portion of the Ohio To Erie Trail to be paved, and it is Licking County's only section of the Ohio To Erie Trail to be paved and will connect Knox, Licking and Delaware Counties," Lori Totman, Knox County Park District director, told the Mount Vernon News.
Delaware County has already paved their section of trail, she said.
The total project cost of $664,000 includes funding for a quarter-mile of trail in Licking County.
"Having the Heart of Ohio Trail completed means we have a beautiful trail from the northeast corner of the county to the southwest corner, and we are right in the middle of the entire Ohio to Erie Trail," Knox County Commissioner Thom Collier told the News.
The matching funds for the Knox section will come from the Knox County Park District, Totman said.
The county has three different multi-use trails on the Ohio to Erie Trail. The Heart of Ohio Trail — managed and operated by a 501(c)(3) all-volunteer trail board — runs from western Knox County to Mount Vernon, where it links with the Kokosing Gap Trail. The Kokosing Gap Trail, which is operated by a different nonprofit board, extends from Mount Vernon to Danville. In Danville, the Mohican Valley Trail — operated by the Knox County Park District — extends to the Holmes County line in eastern Knox County.
"The benefits of a multi-use trail are great for area residents and visitors alike," the district director said. "Trail patrons can bike, walk, run, push a stroller, rollerblade, cross-country ski or snowshoe in winter, as well as birdwatch or photograph on and along the trail."
The trail also has socioeconomic benefits; because in addition to residents, people will come from other parts of Ohio, the United States and different countries to traverse the trail, Totman noted.
"These visitors will need places to eat and places to stay overnight," she said. "Trails, by their nature, are one of the best ADA-compliant surfaces for handicap accessibility due to their gentle slopes. Because there is not a charge to utilize a trail to walk, run, bike, etc., it is one of the best forms of 'free' entertainment for trail patrons."
