Canalway Partners

Several business owners say a long-awaited extension of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in Cleveland will severely impact their bottom line and lead to dangerous driving conditions on busy Jennings Road.

The computer-generated image above shows what the Towpath Trail will look like on Jennings Road near Harvard Avenue. Planners will use land along the public right-of-way running parallel to the road.

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Canalway Partners

Construction is scheduled to begin next month on the 0.7-mile stretch which will run west from an existing trailhead at Harvard Avenue, then north along Jennings Road and on to Steelyard Commons. Cuyahoga County Council recently approved the $3.56 million contract with Great Lakes Construction Co. to construct the trail.

The image above is a map of the planned route of Stage 1 of the Towpath Trail. It begins at the Harvard Avenue trailhead, runs west along Harvard Avenue, then north along Jennings Road, where it will then link up with Stage 2.

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Courtney Astolfi

Jennings Road is a two-lane street with a turn lane in the middle.

Jennings Road prior to the Towpath Trail construction that is slated to begin June 4.

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Courtney Astolfi

Plans call for eliminating the turn lane and using land in the public right-of-way to construct a trail that is separate from, but running alongside, Jennings Road.

The trail will run parallel to the road on its east side (left side in photo).

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Courtney Astolfi

Donald Kannenberg of Kannenberg Bros. Co. Inc., relies on a large truck to transport chemicals. If the reconfigured road is not wide enough to allow the truck to turn onto his property, he said, he will no longer be able to operate out of the location he has occupied for 20 years and has invested $500,000 in.

This property houses Kannenberg Bros. Co. Inc.

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Courtney Astolfi

Kannenberg and other business owners said the road regularly becomes congested because it serves as an overflow for rush-hour traffic from the neighboring highways.

If the turn lane is eliminated, they said, the process of moving trucks on and off their properties will snarl traffic even more and increase the risk of crashes.

This property, owned by Greg Zillich of Cleveland Welding Supply, and George Bauer, sits vacant. Zillich says flooding along Jennings Road and other conditions have prevented him from selling the one-time location of his business, and the Towpath will make selling it even more difficult.

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Courtney Astolfi

The owners of Cleats Club Seat Grille at Harvard Avenue and Jennings expect to lose about one-fifth of their parking spaces and must remove a large sign on the corner that draws customers to their business, said property owner Hilary Cudnik.

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Courtney Astolfi

Cudnik said he was shocked to learn that the parking spaces and sign are on the public right-of-way. The layout of the parking lot has remained the same since the 1950s, when another restaurant was located there. The loss of the parking spaces "eliminates anywhere from 10 to 40 customers I can hold in my business at any given time," Cudnik said.

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Courtney Astolfi

James Kaspar, another property owner who uses his Jennings Road building to repair equipment for other businesses, says the current plans will render his building useless to him and anyone he would sell it to because he won't be able to turn his truck into the property.

The property owned by James Kaspar.

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Courtney Astolfi

The Towpath's configuration also means that trucks hauling heavy loads, such as the 96,000-pound gear that is regularly transported to and from nearby Tesar Industrial Contractors for use at the steel mill, must travel across the Towpath when turning into the business.

A gear used at times by Tesar Industrial Contractors for work on the steel mill.

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Courtney Astolfi

Kaspar said he worries about that scenario because the Towpath will likely be designed only for cyclists and pedestrians and will be damaged by the heavy loads. But Towpath planners said they will reinforce areas where heavy loads cross the trail.

A view of Tesar Industrial Contractors.

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Canalway Partners

The Towpath Trail Extension Project is primarily funded through the Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program.

The latest extension has been envisioned since at least 2010, said Tim Donovan, executive director of Canalway Partners, formerly known as Ohio Canal Corridor. Canalway Partners, along with the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Metroparks, have worked together to plan the Towpath in Cleveland.

"We explored upwards of 13 different trail routes to try to get from [the Harvard trailhead] to Steelyard," Donovan said. "Each and every one were pretty much thwarted."

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FIle photo, John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer

One option called for running the trail through or near the former Harshaw Chemical site, which refined uranium for the production of atomic bombs during World War II.

The former site of Harshaw Chemical, torn down in 2015.

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Michael Scott and Jim Owens, The Plain Dealer

Clean-up of radioactive soil at the site has been a 17-plus year process, Donovan said, and contamination ultimately forced planners to pursue other options.

A 2010 graphic by The Plain Dealer shows how contamination at the Harshaw Chemical site presented problems for Towpath planners nearly 10 years ago.

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Canalway Partners

Another possibility was constructing the Towpath on the underside of the Harvard-Denison Bridge, but a high price tag -- $17 million -- forced planners to scrap that option as well, Donovan said.

A computer-generated image of what the Towpath would have looked like had planners been able to build it under the bridge.

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Canalway Partners

The Towpath, which starts in Tuscarawas County and winds north through Stark, Summit and Cuyahoga counties until it reaches Lake Erie, will span 85 miles once the final stages in Cleveland are constructed.

The Towpath Trail in Cuyahoga County.

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Stage 1 along Harvard Avenue and Jennings Road will link up to Stage 2, a 0.9-mile section built in 2007 by a private developer along the border of Steelyard Commons. Stage 3 runs 1.9 miles from Steelyard to Literary Avenue in the Tremont neighborhood and will be completed this fall. Stage 4, running from Tremont to the future Canal Basin Park, is expected to be complete in 2020.

An overview of the area around Stage 1 of the Towpath Trail.

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Throughout the planning, Donovan has tried to keep the trail as close as possible to the original towpath built 175 years ago along the Ohio & Erie Canal. Planners also wanted to ensure the trail remained off-road, Donovan said.

Jim Fish, owner of Northwest Services Inc. points to where the Towpath Trail will run. He said its construction will prevent him from using three of his four driveways to haul equipment on and off his property.

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Canalway Partners

Using the route along Jennings Road allowed planners to do both while avoiding the complications of the Harshaw Chemical site and Harvard Denison Bridge, Donovan said.

Donovan said project engineers met with the business owners and tweaked plans with the aim of not harming their operations.

A computer-generated image of a portion of Stage 1 of the Towpath Trail .

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Courtney Astolfi

"They may not be satisfied, but we took those concerns seriously and designed the trail to accommodate them," Donovan said.

Several of the business owners disagreed with that, but construction is scheduled to move forward. It begins on June 4.

A view of the future site of the trail on Jennings Road.

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