On June 9, 2006, the NOACA Governing Board approved the following regarding this project: Resolution No. 2006-022 Project Planning Review Resolution No. 2006-023 Plan and TIP Amendment. Title:  Towpath Trail Stage 1 Sponsor:  Cuyahoga County Engineer Estimated Total Cost: $7,900,000 - Preliminary Engineering (PE) and Construction (C) Proposed Source of Federal Funds: SAFETEA-LU and NOACA History/Background: During 2001 and 2002, the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (CCPC) assembled $225,000 in funds from the Ohio & Erie Canal Association, the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, the City of Cleveland, Cleveland Metroparks, The Cleveland Foundation and The George Gund Foundation for the purpose of retaining a team of Consultants to conduct the Towpath Trail Extension Alignment and Design Study in October 2002. The Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office joined eight other agencies: the City of Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (Resolution No. 2004-047), Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio Department of Transportation, the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Ohio Canal Corridor, to form the Towpath Trail Partnership Committee dedicated to the completion of the last 6 miles of Towpath Trail. The Cuyahoga County Engineer (CCE) is the sponsor of two Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 – a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) earmarks: House High Priority Projects (HHPP) Earmark No. 1688 (Construct Cleveland Towpath Trail. 6-mile extension towards downtown) and Senate High Priority Projects (SHPP) Earmark No. 4637 (Design and construct a Towpath Trail from southern Cuyahoga County through downtown Cleveland to Lake Erie). The Towpath Extension is listed in NOACA’s Connections 2030: A Framework for the 2030 Transportation System (June 10, 2005) Table 5-Major Projects Meeting Tier IV Definition. In 2005, the Partnership Committee agreed to a final alignment for the Towpath Trail through the Steelyard Commons retail complex. Current Conditions: The Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office signed on as the management agency to oversee the design and construction of the Towpath Trail. This is the first time in Ohio that a County Engineer has partnered with other agencies to manage a trail project. After successfully securing federal funds for the design of the Towpath Trail last year, the County Engineer’s Office, in conjunction with the Partnership Committee, will solicit “qualification based” proposals to select a design team to engineer the first phase of the Towpath Trail from Harvard Road to Steelyard Commons in 2006. Working with the Partnership Committee, the group was also successful in requesting the City of Cleveland to form a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District at the Steelyard Commons Site. This TIF will provide the mechanism to generate the local share of construction dollars needed to match future federal funds to construct the Towpath Trail and Canal Basin Park. Now that the local share has been identified and the design for the first phase will commence this year, the Engineer’s Office will be working with the Towpath Trail Partnership Committee to begin securing federal construction dollars for 2008/2009. Proposed Project:  The project involves the preliminary development, design and construction of the Cleveland Towpath Trail (Stage 1), approximately 0.75 mile, from Harvard Road to Steelyard Commons, in Cleveland. The project will be broken into components so that each area can be studied and evaluated based upon the unique characteristics that each component has to offer the towpath. The Towpath Trail Extension Alignment and Design Study will be used to identify the corridor where the towpath will be built. This Agreement will be implemented in parts appropriate to the plan development process (PDP). Stage 1 of the Towpath Trail has been broken up into components. Each component has unique characteristics that need to be studied to refine the preferred alignment as documented in the Towpath Trail Extension Alignment and Design Study. HARVARD ROAD COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will cross Harvard Road. The project will also entail rebuilding Harvard Road from a couple of hundred feet east of towpath to the Harvard Road bridge that will include paths/sidewalks on the south side. It would be desirable to keep the existing parking lot. Alternatives: Bridge Over Harvard Road. You would have overhead utilities to deal with. Also the area north of Harvard is 10’ + below existing grade. This is a viable option but could be expensive. At Grade Crossing. The crossing may be better if it goes west to be closer to the bridge, this would help with potential site distance problems. Would probably be the least expensive but least desirable option. Tunnel under Harvard Road. We can work our way south of Harvard to avoid the Metroparks parking lot. Would need to do utility location to see what utilities would have to be relocated. This option would also, from a grade standpoint, match closer to the existing grade north of Harvard. There is actually a ledge that the trail could be built on. No alternatives for environmental regeneration, outside of enhancements to the structures are anticipated. Utilities: Overhead power lines or underground utilities may have to be relocated. No issues anticipated on the NEPA process. > Right-of-way property will be required. CANOE/RIVER PLATEAU COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will traverse the area from the Harvard Road crossing to the river crossing. Issues: Stream protection needs to be provided for in this component. Area is prone to flooding based on the silty nature of the soil. Fishing area? Sheet piling evident, any use as an exhibit? Canoe/Bicycle Livery. Alcoa’s involvement in the Cuyahoga River Valley? Environmental: Regeneration for this area will be studied. Ecological, U.S. Army Corp Permits and Cultural Historical issues would need to be evaluated. Right-of-wayW property will be required. Utilities: No issues with utilities anticipated. CUYAHOGA RIVER CROSSING COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will cross the Cuyahoga River. Issues: River clearance. River debris maintenance of existing or proposed pie. Alternatives: New bridge crossing on new abutments. New bridge crossing over “piers” in river. Existing railroad trestle. No alternatives for environmental regeneration, outside of enhancements to the structures are anticipated. Utilities: No issues with utilities anticipated. Environmental: Ecological and U.S. Army Corp Permits issues would need to be evaluated. Right-of-way property will be required. PENINSULA COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will traverse the area under the Harvard Denison Bridge. Issues: Stream protection needs to be provided for in this component. Interpretative centers? Fishing area? Bridges in the area? Environmental Regeneration for this area will be studied. Utilities: No issues with utilities anticipated. Environmental: Ecological, Hazardous Material (Railroad), U.S. Army Corp Permits and Cultural Historical issues would need to be evaluated. Right-of-way property will be required. RIVERWALK COMPONENT – This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will go north along the existing west bank of the Cuyahoga River. Issues: Stream protection needs to be provided for in this component. Need to restrict access to Air Products. Fencing required? Restrictions in place on how close public right of way can be to certain buildings. Alternatives: Asphalt trail on bank of river. Building walkway over river’s edge. No alternatives for environmental regeneration. Utilities: Underground Pipeline involved that must be avoided and access must be maintained. Environmental: Ecological and U.S. Army Corp Permits issues would need to be evaluated. Right-of-way property will be required. RAILROAD CROSSING COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will cross the existing tracks. Issues: Stream protection may need to be provided for in this component. Alternatives: Tunnel under existing tracks. Cross under existing track/trestle out over the Cuyahoga River. No alternatives for environmental regeneration, outside of enhancements to the structures are anticipated. No issues with utilities anticipated. Environmental: Ecological, Hazardous Materials (Railroad) and U.S. Army Corp Permits issues would need to be evaluated. Right-of-way property will be required. ELEVATED TRAIL COMPONENT - This component of the towpath will deal with how the towpath will rise up from the Cuyahoga River over Mittal Steel property and CSX Railroad to the entrance of Steelyard Commons. Issues: Odor problems to deal with from adjacent property owners. Relocate Mittal steel spur to the north or eliminate completely. Alternatives: Locate bridge to the south to avoid crossing directly over tracks. Location of bridge over existing spur, depending on usage of tracks. Location of bridge to the north of existing spur, depending on usage of tracks. No alternatives for environmental regeneration, outside of enhancements to the structures are anticipated. Utilities: Overhead utility wires are an issue. Environmental: Hazardous Materials (Railroad) would need to be evaluated. Right-of-way property will be required. ODOT’s PDP will be used to refine the preferred alternatives as identified for each component of the towpath. A Technical Advisory Group will be established to provide the consultant direction though the PDP. Stakeholder groups will be identified to discuss the project and gather additional input into the PDP. The consultant is to locate and identify all existing and foreseeable utilities (public or private) accordingly. As required, the consultant can recommend underground utility investigations where structural conflicts may occur. The consultant will use an accredited Subsurface Utility Engineering firm. The consultant will follow the procedures for utility relocation as per ODOT’s Utilities Manual and the Ohio Revised Code. Railroads are located within the project limits and will require their approval of the project. Cost estimates will be provided for each option, as the preferred alignment is refined. Environmental and right-of-way impacts will also be presented in a manner that will assist the decision makers in refining the preferred alignment. The estimated total cost for Phase 1, provided by the sponsor, is $7,900,000. The estimated cost for preliminary engineering is $300,000. The estimated cost for final engineering is $600,000. The engineering will be funded entirely from the SAFETEA-LU earmarks. The estimated total construction cost is $7,000,000. The sponsor is requesting the use of NOACA attributable Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) funds to fund eighty percent of the construction cost ($5,600,000). The Cuyahoga County Engineer will provide the twenty percent local match ($1,400,000). The total SAFETEA-LU HHPP earmark (No. 1688) is $4,640,000. An obligation limit of 91% ($4,222,400) has been applied to the earmark total. The total SAFETEA-LU SHPP earmark (No. 4637) is $1,800,000. An obligation limit of 91% ($1,638,4000) has been applied to the earmark total. Therefore, a combined total of $5,860,800 in earmark funding is available to the sponsor for this project. Anything over $5,860,800 is the responsibility of the project sponsor. The Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office will provide project management for the plan development and construction phases of this project. The Engineer’s Office will also provide surveying and right-of-way plan preparation services, as needed to the prime consultant for base mapping and for the acquisition of all property rights necessary for the construction of this stage of the towpath. Staff Comment (Summary): Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Team: This project addresses goal # 4 (Transportation Safety) of Access Ohio through policy statement B1 initiative (Systematically reduce the number of at-grade rail-highway crossings). The sponsor is responsible for all costs over the obligation limit. At its March 17, 2006 meeting, the RTIS authorized staff to inform applicants requesting federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds (CMAQ) for 2006-2009 that recommendations from the draft State Implementation Plan (SIP) will be considered prior to programming CMAQ funds. The strategic use of CMAQ funds may be needed to achieve SIP goals. An evaluation of air quality impacts potential for reduced delays could be of value in determining which Federal-aid highway funding source such as CMAQ funds or STP funds. Eligibility for CMAQ funding will require an analysis from the sponsor demonstrating pollutant emission reduction as a result of the project. This project will reduce fuel consumption and increase air quality and safety. Advance to committee and public review with the understanding that the sponsor will make a good-faith effort to address questions and comments. Regional Transportation System (RTS) Team: This is an important link in the region's bikeway and pedestrian systems. Plan/Forecast Team: Recommend funding. Committee Review: Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC): The BAC supports this project. This will provide the last section to connect the towpath trail and Lake Erie, and is a project of great regional significance. Transportation Water Quality Council (TransWac) It is suggested that trail design and construction address habitat enhancements along the riparian edge. It is suggested that enhancements be made to the armored stream bank to improve opportunities for fish refuge and pockets for larval fish spawning. It is suggested that drainage concepts be integrated into trail design to mitigate the effects of damming of upslope sheet flow by elevated trail surface. It is encouraged that the length of trail route adjacent to the river be maximized to afford public access to the river in an area where access is (limited) impaired. Comments following its May 16, 2006 meeting: The questionnaire was not completed by the project sponsor. However, the project sponsor has indicated commitment to consider comments above and has forwarded these to its design consultant. Regional Transportation Investment Subcommittee (RTIS)/Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC): Accept the Project Planning Review, add the PE (earmark) element to the TIP and amend the cost information contained in the Plan. Intergovernmental Review and Consultation (IGRC): “This is just one more important link in constructing the towpath trail to downtown Cleveland and is a good project.” - Cuyahoga County “Cleveland Metroparks supports the Towpath Trail Stage 1 initiative and is serving on the Towpath Trail Coordinating Committee.” -Cuyahoga County If you are a representative of a governmental entity and would like to comment on this project, please email us. Public Involvement: NOACA encourages comments from the public on this proposed transportation improvement project. Please notify us if you would like to be added to our e-mail notification list for future updates.