WARREN — The Trumbull County Board of Commissioners, in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Transportation, propose to construct 4.25 miles of asphalt concrete multipurpose trail to connect bike paths from Canfield to Ashtabula County.

This section of trail would go from the existing northern terminus of the Niles Greenway Trail located south of state Route 169 / state Route 46 / Robbins Avenue to the existing southern terminus of the Warren Greenway Trail at Burton Street SE.

Officials are proposing using a combination of both on-street and off-street trail sections in Niles and Warren and Howland and Weathersfield townships.

The Greenway is a bikeway that runs through metroparks in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties. The proposed Niles bike trail extension would connect bike paths from Canfield to Ashtabula County.

Proposed on-street trail sections will be established with new trail signs along various existing streets and a new five-foot concrete walkway along Burton Street.

Proposed off-street trail sections include a 10-foot-wide trail with the majority of the proposed trail alignment adjacent to and east of Niles Warren River Road and through existing utility easements.

Zachary Svette, executive director of the Trumbull County MetroParks, said the project will be constructed to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

He said additional improvements proposed by the project include filling / grading activities to provide appropriate elevations, new culvert installations, existing culvert extensions, drainage improvements, fence / railing installations, driveway approach reconstruction, new sign installations and new pavement marking applications.

LAKE TO RIVER

Officials said the project will be part of the Great Ohio Lake-to-River Greenway that will traverse between Lake Erie and the Ohio River through existing / future multipurpose trails.

Officials said an alignment shift of approximately 1.43 miles occurred during recent negotiations with the new owners of the Western Reserve Port Authority property, formerly the BDM Warren Steel Holding LLC property.

Svette said the newly proposed trail section extends between Deforest Townline Road and a property owned by Ohio Edison. The new alignment has been shifted to the eastern property line and follows along the abandoned rail line.

According to officials, from north to south, the fourth phase of the bike trail extension will allow riders to continue onto the trail into Mahoning County. The 43-mile Western Reserve Greenway trail starts in Ashtabula County with a 16.7-mile portion in Trumbull County that attaches to the 3.2 miles in Warren, which attaches to the Niles Greenway trail.

As a result of the shift in alignment, one additional wetland totaling 0.298 acres and three additional streams totaling 137 linear feet will be impacted by the project. Approximately 2.48 acres of additional tree clearing, that provides potential suitable habitat for federal and state listed bat species, will occur, officials said.

Due to the alignment change, six wetlands and two streams will no longer be impacted by this project.

Construction for the project is scheduled to in begin in the summer of 2024, officials said.

Information on the alignment shift, including mapping depicting the newly proposed alignment shift and the anticipated additional ecological impacts, will be available on the Trumbull County MetroParks webpage http;//trumbullmet

roparks.org/.

Svette said the proposed project will not result in any substantial impacts to environmental resources.

The county commissioners are seeking any comments from the public regarding the proposed project. Project-related issues include, but are not limited to, the effect of the project on residents, air quality, environmental impacts, etc.

Any comments may be submitted by June 12 to Zachary Svette, Trumbull County MetroParks, 185 E. Market Street, Second Floor, Warren, OH 44481, call 330-675-3072 or email mpsvette@co.trumbull.oh.us.