MOUNT VERNON — The Heart of Ohio Trail will take another step toward completion this year, Knox County Park District Director Kim Marshall reports.
“We’re excited about the coming season,” she said. “The design firm is finishing the plans for the paving project that will probably take place in October.”
A grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation will pay for 80 percent of the estimated $646,447 cost of paving a 2.6-mile stretch of the trail from Thayer Road to Columbus Road, where the trail comes out near Barb’s Diner. The 20 percent local share comes from park levy money.
The project also includes construction of a gravel parking lot near Ohio Rental. That will probably take place in April, Marshall said.
This section is being paved before the 2.3-mile stretch from where the paving ends near Graham Road to Thayer Road. That was to have been the next section paved, but after the park district applied for a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the program was not funded.
“That put our construction program out of sync, so we’re reapplying for funds from ODNR and ODOT to do it next year,” she said.
