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A $7.95 million federal grant will help Cleveland Metroparks complete a network of bike and pedestrian trails to connect central Cleveland with Lake Erie.

(Cleveland Metroparks)

WASHINGTON - Cleveland Metroparks has been awarded a $7.95 million federal transportation grant to build more than four miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails in central Cleveland, including a bridge to connect the existing Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail to the lakefront, according to the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur.

Metroparks' "Reconnecting Cleveland" project will also complete several regional bicycle and pedestrian trails and link to the Erie Canal Towpath Trail, Cleveland Foundation Centennial Trail (CFCT) and Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway, the park network said.

The federal grant will pay close to half the project's $16.45 million cost. The rest of it will come from sources including the state of Ohio, the Cleveland Foundation, and Gund Foundation, says Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman. Construction will start along the Cleveland Foundation Centennial trail on August 1 and "come on line very quickly," he said. All the work should be done by 2020, Metroparks officials estimate.

"It is really about connecting Cleveland," Zimmerman said. "People really identify with trail connections and connecting places to the Metroparks. This 'Reconnecting Cleveland' grant is a great example of many people putting together a lot of effort to really take Cleveland to the next level."

In its funding application to the federal government, the Metroparks system said the project will help stabilize local neighborhoods, provide low-cost transportation options, generate economic re-investment and provide city residents with access to jobs, transit, and two major green space venues which have been inaccessible for decades - the Lake Erie shoreline and the Cuyahoga River.

Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat, said the grant "took a lot of work from many stakeholders."

"The plan will provide connectivity for residents of several neighborhoods that have been physically isolated and negatively impacted by decades of disinvestment," she said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in support of the grant.

Others who submitted letters to support the project included U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Marcia Fudge, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and a long list of civic groups and local legislators.

The federal money will be used to build:

Wendy Park Bridge - links the CFCT to Wendy Park on Whiskey Island and Lake Erie

Whiskey Island Connector - links the Wendy Park Bridge to Edgewater Park, three pedestrian tunnels and the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway

Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway Connector - links the CFCT to the Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway

Canal Basin Park Connector - links the CFCT to Canal Basin Park, Rivergate Park, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Waterfront Line Rapid Transit, and downtown Cleveland

Red Line Greenway - links the CFCT to two RTA Red Line Rapid Transit stations, and provides a primary commuting corridor from W. 65th Street to downtown Cleveland.

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