Erin O'Brien
Cleveland's ethnic diversity is represented in the city's markets. Replete with dazzling items and intriguing people, they offer a taste of home for newcomers and exotic flavors for the rest of us.
Cleveland almost lost native son Daniel Gray-Kontar to California's charms. But this writer, poet, performer and father has come home and into his own as an educator and stalwart youth advocate.
With the addition of nearly 1.25 miles of trail, area walkers, bikers and runners will have access to Mill Creek, a lesser-known scenic urban waterway, by spring of next year.
The Mill Creek Connector Trail will extend north from Bacci Park, East 71st Street and Warner Road, to the intersection of Garfield Boulevard and Warner Road. The addition will connect to the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation by way of a curving wooded path in Bacci Park, completed in 2007 as phase one of the project.
Features for the new path will include a 150-foot bridge traversing Mill Creek, light industrial scapes, an overlook providing eagle-eye views of Mill Creek and the Cuyahoga River Valley, soil retaining walls that will present as "vertical gardens," and a 130-foot change of elevation, which will be offset by a 1,100-foot switchback to facilitate grades not in excess of the five percent accessibility standard.
"The entire trail is ADA accessible," says Sean McDermott, the Metroparks' chief planning and design officer, adding that construction is well underway. "We are actually getting ready to set the bridge over Mill Creek. We will be doing that in November. That will be a major milestone of the project. After that we'll be continuing earthwork up Warner hill." The project is scheduled for completion by June 2015.
The unusual mixture of nature and industry that characterizes much of the adjacent Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation will also be inherent on the forthcoming trail.
"When you get to the overlook, which is at the top of switchback," he says, "you'll have a view of Mill Creek Valley. You'll also be next to industry, which is an interesting dichotomy."
Ground broke on the trail in August. Independence Excavating is proceeding with the $3.293 million project, $1.9 million of which comes from federal funding that is administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The balance is funded by the Metroparks.
McDermott notes that the Mill Creek Connector meets several criteria in the organization's strategic plan, such as connecting Cleveland to the inner ring suburbs and furthering the development of the regional greenway system.
"When we can get that accomplished, it really is something to celebrate," he says.
The Mill Creek Connector Trail will extend north from Bacci Park, East 71st Street and Warner Road, to the intersection of Garfield Boulevard and Warner Road. The addition will connect to the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation by way of a curving wooded path in Bacci Park, completed in 2007 as phase one of the project.
Features for the new path will include a 150-foot bridge traversing Mill Creek, light industrial scapes, an overlook providing eagle-eye views of Mill Creek and the Cuyahoga River Valley, soil retaining walls that will present as "vertical gardens," and a 130-foot change of elevation, which will be offset by a 1,100-foot switchback to facilitate grades not in excess of the five percent accessibility standard.
"The entire trail is ADA accessible," says Sean McDermott, the Metroparks' chief planning and design officer, adding that construction is well underway. "We are actually getting ready to set the bridge over Mill Creek. We will be doing that in November. That will be a major milestone of the project. After that we'll be continuing earthwork up Warner hill." The project is scheduled for completion by June 2015.
The unusual mixture of nature and industry that characterizes much of the adjacent Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation will also be inherent on the forthcoming trail.
"When you get to the overlook, which is at the top of switchback," he says, "you'll have a view of Mill Creek Valley. You'll also be next to industry, which is an interesting dichotomy."
Ground broke on the trail in August. Independence Excavating is proceeding with the $3.293 million project, $1.9 million of which comes from federal funding that is administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The balance is funded by the Metroparks.
McDermott notes that the Mill Creek Connector meets several criteria in the organization's strategic plan, such as connecting Cleveland to the inner ring suburbs and furthering the development of the regional greenway system.
"When we can get that accomplished, it really is something to celebrate," he says.
