01 / 21
After shutting down for winter, construction crews have resumed their work on stage 4 of the Towpath Trail extension project that runs from the northern end of stage 3 (Literary Rd. & University Rd.) through Scranton Flats and Carter Rd. to Canal Basin Park.
On the southern end of stage 4, Independence Excavating Inc.’s crew is in the process of transitioning University Rd. on the northern border of Tremont into a dedicated path that will connect to the existing path by Sokolowski’s University Inn and the George V. Voinovich Bridge.
Later this summer a pedestrian bridge will be installed, allowing Towpath Trail users to cross freely over Literary Rd. Nearby, another construction crew is building J Roc Development’s Electric Gardens project, a 130-unit apartment building rising along the western edge of the Towpath Trail.
Independence Excavating crews are also working on the northern end of stage 4, making changes to the corner of Carter Rd. and Columbus Rd. The path will follow a circular route along Columbus Rd., through a tunnel, and into Canal Basin Park. The $8.945 million project is targeted for completion late summer/early fall of 2021.
Crews have removed railroad tracks from the Canal Basin section that had been long buried when Valley Railway leased the canal from the city in 1874 and later filled-in the canal basin to build a freight depot on the site.
In its day, Canal Basin served as a dock, weigh station, and point of exchange between Lake Erie ships and Ohio & Erie Canal boats. More on Canal Basin history is at https://canalwaypartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/canal-basin-history-presentation.pdf
Stage 4 is the final segment of the Towpath Trail extension project, a six-mile segment linking the northern terminus of the Towpath Trail at Harvard Rd. to the future Canal Basin Park by the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland
