FREDERICKTOWN — A grant application with a May 1 deadline may hold the key to the Fredericktown bike path becoming a reality. Fredericktown Village Administrator Gary Gallogly is submitting an application to the Ohio Department of Transportation for an enhancement grant to allow for paving of the proposed bike path. ODOT currently offers 80/20 participating grants to qualifying village entities for such projects.
Gallogly explained that ODOT will look at numerous factors in determining eligibility. These factors will include how that path is to be used, the potential number of people using the path, how many people live within a certain distance of the path, how many businesses are in a close proximity, engineers’ estimates on costs and any existing easements on the property. “These are some of the things they are interested in,” said Gallogly.
An environmental assessment was conducted with the Environmental Protection Agency before any work on the project could proceed. “We want to have a walking path and get some use out of it, even if it is not paved right now,” Fredericktown Mayor Alan Kintner told the News. “We’re currently clearing the path, getting the trees and brush out which have grown up over the past few years.” Members of the Fredericktown Community Fire District are volunteering their time to clear the path.
The Village of Fredericktown purchased property for the trail in the fall of 2011, which will run for 1.8 miles from the north end of the village near the baseball fields at Ohio 95 to the south end of the corporation limit. The trail will follow the old CSX railroad which was abandoned in the mid 1990s. Part of the trail will run along the Kokosing River and break away in town near College Street traveling south as the river moves on to the east.
