There is no on line version of this article so I am transcribing some of the article here
Foundation forging bike, hike link
By Jerry Masek
The Cleveland Press Tuesday January 13, 1981
A proposal to link Cleveland and Akron with a series of biking and hiking trails is being studied by the Ohio Conservation Foundation.
The project would allow Greater Clevelanders to drive to a Cleveland city park, leave their cars in parking lots and bicycle through Greater Cleveland and the picturesque and historic Cuyahoga Valley and into Akron.
Bob Currie, assistant director of the foundation, said this would be the only place in the country were two metropolitan areas would be joined by a trail system through a national recreation area.
Currie said the trails are "a dream: an exciting concept" and he noted it should help youth activties in Cleveland and Akron. He said the system probably would not reach downtown Cleveland or Akron, but would come close to it.
"We're very pleased and excited about the prospect of connecting our biking and hiking trails with Cleveland and Akron, said Sheridan Steele, a Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area spokesman.
By September 1981 - Rapid Recovery submitted a DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND BIKEWAY FEASIBILITY STUDY to NOACA, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency
Preparation of this document was financed through grant number OH-0068-61548 from the Urban Mass Transportatin Administration through the Northeast Ohio Coordinating Agency. SEE: https://t.co/A5kBUH1hRp
The plan outlines a Class I Bikeway from E 41 to Tower City to East 55th St. along the abandoned tracks adjacent to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Red Line.
Regarding the Shift underway in Trail and Greenway Funding
Trails and greenways have always been a bi-partisan issue as evidenced by their widespread popularity across the U.S.A. and in both urban and rural areas. This trend is relatively new having started in the early 1990s in Pittsburgh and now prevalent everywhere. The benefits of trails and greenways are extensive, widely documented and now undisputed and generally very well known.
To save time I am attaching the following five Word documents to help document many of the benefits of trails:
- KOGG – Environmental Benefits
- KOGG – Lifestyle Benefits
- R – Benefits of Great Greenways
- R – Bringing TOD into the 21st Century
- R – Cleveland’s Destination Trail
KOGG stands for “Keep our Greenway Green” which was a volunteer effort to prevent the regional transit authority from cutting down an urban forest on the Red Line Greenway to build what they called a Transportation Oriented Development (TOD). We have been successful so far. R stands for Red Line Greenway, the greenway I founded in 2009 in Cleveland Ohio after over 43 years of volunteers grooming the transit authority’s trackside. This project received an $8 million TIGER grant (half went to the greenway) in large part because of the work of volunteers reduced the cost to build the greenway by $2 million. So a key point is that trails and greenway volunteer work is encouraged by government funding. The greenway cost $6 million and opened in May 2021. I am currently working to extend it into downtown Cleveland over a raised viaduct which will cost at least $15 million and will be the highest elevated greenway in America on an active rail line.
Bringing TOD into the 21st Century is a good start for the changes we now need to make in how we explain the benefits of building more trails. Up to now we were required to explain how “underserved neighborhoods”, minorities and people in poverty would benefit from the proposed trail. The Red Line greenway does all these things by reconnecting 88,000 racially and economically diverse people to one another and to jobs, culture and entertainment. Now I suggest we simply shift to focus on all the other many benefits of trails with a particular focus on health and wellness, economic development, pedestrian safety, competitive advantages, increased real estate values and job connectivity.
It then follows that the past practice of touting the DEI benefits should cease. Instead the focus can be on where we need trails to complete your community’s network of trails. Cleveland, for example, has 300 miles of trails today but some areas still do not have access to trails. Many times this is because no individual has stepped forward to champion a trail in that area or there is low demand or a lack of an appropriate place to build a cost effective trail.
Richard Louv wrote a book titled “Last Child in the Woods” that does an excellent job of laying out the mental health and learning benefits of trails and greenways, particularly for children. Dr. James Bissell, formally a vice president at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, told me he had done conclusive studies that proved nearly all children learned better in an outdoor environment and that many children with learning disabilities saw them disappear in outdoor settings. Children need exposure to nature to development and live healthy happy lives yet today they have far fewer options than ever before. The Trust for Public Land developed their goal of having every American within a 10 minute walk to green space with these findings in mind.
Cities are now forced to compete with one another for people and the quality of their green space has become a significant factor in attracting new talent. While I mentioned Cleveland has 300 miles of trails we are still behind Detroit, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh regionally. Last I knew, Houston had over 700 miles of trails. The High Line in New York hoped to draw 300,000 visitors a year but now hosts over 4 million a year. Over flowing parking lots at trail heads are a common occurrence across the country. Cleveland is building one of, if not the, largest new parks in America, the 23 acre Irishtown Bend Park. The local block club of which I am a member continues to advocate for more parking to accommodate what we expect to be over flow crowds from the three trails that converge there.
Thank you for the opportunity to address this important issue at a turning point in the future of great American trails and greenways. The bottom line is we should embrace the changes in front of us rather than fight them because the cause for trails and greenways is irrefutable. If this means some applicants need to resubmit their applications then I hope these suggestions will help. In an ideal world any changes forthcoming will not be retroactive but any trail worth building should be able to document how it will provide the many benefits they have proven to provide.
I disagree vehemently with Len on the parking lot comment^ He knows. Transit to TRAILS. All Purpose TRAILS are for ALL - bike tracks are ableist and eltist.
Lennie Stover died while working outside on April 22, 2026. He was also working on Snake Hill Trail to connect Brookside Park to residents and Veteran's Trail in Summit county to connect Hudson via the Bike and Hike Trail to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. https://www.starksfamilyfh.com/obituaries/leonard-stover/memories I posted this remembrance but should have noted that Lennie BUILT the Red Line Greenway.
Lennie's legacy will live on forever. It should be noted that the Cleveland Metroparks received their first-ever federal transportation grant BECAUSE of Lennie's contributions in terms of volunteer work, preliminary drawings and engineering, pitch book and his MANY public presentations.
The photo collage shows Metroparks Board Trustee Dan Moore and Jim Kastelic, principal planner at the time, who helped Metroparks get the application submitted and Phase l, Phase ll of the trail built cost effectively and in record time. Notably, the same grant application allowed the Metroparks to connect the towpath to Wendy Park and Whiskey Island. The trail was financed BECAUSE it was a multimodal #TransitToTrails project - giving people from all walks of life ACCESS to the Cuyahoga River and to Lake Erie.
Lennie was always quick to credit Stan Adams, Pete Presson and Dutch Harley for their Rotary "Service Above Self" commitment that started the Red Line project in 1977. Also, shown is Erin Ryan, who both Lennie and I were so fortunate to know and love and who we also lost too soon. Hoople's holds a special place in the hearts of everyone who dedicated time to make the Red Line Greenway a reality.
It is my greatest hope that Lennie's passion to connect people will be realized with the completion of Phase III to Tower City and to the future east side trail network. My personal thank you to Lennie's family and friends who made his life so rich and wonderful.
So I asked GROK about federal transportation grants to park districts- the TIGER grant for Red Line Greenway was the FIRST ever federal transportation grant Metroparks received.https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/planning-design/archived-proje... "> https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/planning-design/archived-projects/red-line-greenway
Several park systems and related greenway agencies have secured federal transportation grants, particularly through the USDOT's RAISE program and various federal land management programs. Notable recipients include Cleveland Metroparks ($19.5M for trail connections), Zion National Park ($33.4M for electric shuttle buses), and Great Rivers Greenway in St. Louis ($22M+). These grants often focus on enhancing connectivity, increasing safety, and reducing emissions in natural areas. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Park Systems/Agencies Receiving Federal Transportation Grants:
Cleveland Metroparks (Ohio): Awarded a $19.5 million RAISE grant in 2024 to fund the Slavic Village Downtown Connector North and the Morgana Run Extension.
Zion National Park (Utah): Secured $33.4 million for replacing the park's shuttle bus fleet with battery-electric buses.
Great Rivers Greenway (Missouri): Received over $22 million in combined RAISE and Transportation Alternative grants for regional trail development.
Irishtown Bend Park (Ohio): Secured $10.8M in federal funding for development.
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona): Secured $27.5 million for shuttle bus fleet replacement.
Everglades National Park (Florida): Secured $60 million for elevating the Tamiami Trail.
City of Detroit (Michigan): Awarded $10.5 million for a segment of the Joe Louis Greenway. [1, 2, 3, 4, 6]
Common Federal Grant Sources:
RAISE Grants: Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity.
Federal Lands Transportation Program: Primarily supports the National Park Service.
Nationally Significant Lands and Tribal Projects Program: Used for major projects like those in Yellowstone National Park.
FTA Bus and Low- and No-Emission Grants: Used by regional transit authorities and park partners for electric buses. [1, 7, 8, 9, 10]
These funds have been used to replace aging diesel shuttle buses with electric options, build new urban greenway connectors, and enhance trail infrastructure. [2, 3]
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Rails to TRAILS >TYPhil Kidd and Elaine H at PAL library
There is no on line version of this article so I am transcribing some of the article here
Foundation forging bike, hike link
By Jerry Masek
The Cleveland Press Tuesday January 13, 1981
A proposal to link Cleveland and Akron with a series of biking and hiking trails is being studied by the Ohio Conservation Foundation.
The project would allow Greater Clevelanders to drive to a Cleveland city park, leave their cars in parking lots and bicycle through Greater Cleveland and the picturesque and historic Cuyahoga Valley and into Akron.
Bob Currie, assistant director of the foundation, said this would be the only place in the country were two metropolitan areas would be joined by a trail system through a national recreation area.
Currie said the trails are "a dream: an exciting concept" and he noted it should help youth activties in Cleveland and Akron. He said the system probably would not reach downtown Cleveland or Akron, but would come close to it.
"We're very pleased and excited about the prospect of connecting our biking and hiking trails with Cleveland and Akron, said Sheridan Steele, a Cuyahoga Valley Recreation Area spokesman.
By September 1981 - Rapid Recovery submitted a DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND BIKEWAY FEASIBILITY STUDY to NOACA, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency
Preparation of this document was financed through grant number OH-0068-61548 from the Urban Mass Transportatin Administration through the Northeast Ohio Coordinating Agency. SEE: https://t.co/A5kBUH1hRp
The plan outlines a Class I Bikeway from E 41 to Tower City to East 55th St. along the abandoned tracks adjacent to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Red Line.
Transit+Trails Bipartisan COST EFFECTIVE mobility -finish RLG
Get SHIT done - Listen to Dave Gilbert talking with Brian Zimmerman on episode:
Parks to Prosperity: Building Northeast Ohio through Outdoor Tourism
https://buff.ly/3Nlhntq
https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/cleveland-metroparks-organizat...
This FALL - Rails to Trails Summit will be in Cleveland. Cleveland needs to finish the Red Line Greenway and honor Lennie Stover for his efforts.
https://www.railstotrails.org/trailnation/summit2025/
Published with permission:
February 12, 2025
Mr. Kevin Mills
Vice President Policy
Rails to Trails Conservancy
Regarding the Shift underway in Trail and Greenway Funding
Trails and greenways have always been a bi-partisan issue as evidenced by their widespread popularity across the U.S.A. and in both urban and rural areas. This trend is relatively new having started in the early 1990s in Pittsburgh and now prevalent everywhere. The benefits of trails and greenways are extensive, widely documented and now undisputed and generally very well known.
To save time I am attaching the following five Word documents to help document many of the benefits of trails:
- KOGG – Environmental Benefits
- KOGG – Lifestyle Benefits
- R – Benefits of Great Greenways
- R – Bringing TOD into the 21st Century
- R – Cleveland’s Destination Trail
KOGG stands for “Keep our Greenway Green” which was a volunteer effort to prevent the regional transit authority from cutting down an urban forest on the Red Line Greenway to build what they called a Transportation Oriented Development (TOD). We have been successful so far. R stands for Red Line Greenway, the greenway I founded in 2009 in Cleveland Ohio after over 43 years of volunteers grooming the transit authority’s trackside. This project received an $8 million TIGER grant (half went to the greenway) in large part because of the work of volunteers reduced the cost to build the greenway by $2 million. So a key point is that trails and greenway volunteer work is encouraged by government funding. The greenway cost $6 million and opened in May 2021. I am currently working to extend it into downtown Cleveland over a raised viaduct which will cost at least $15 million and will be the highest elevated greenway in America on an active rail line.
Bringing TOD into the 21st Century is a good start for the changes we now need to make in how we explain the benefits of building more trails. Up to now we were required to explain how “underserved neighborhoods”, minorities and people in poverty would benefit from the proposed trail. The Red Line greenway does all these things by reconnecting 88,000 racially and economically diverse people to one another and to jobs, culture and entertainment. Now I suggest we simply shift to focus on all the other many benefits of trails with a particular focus on health and wellness, economic development, pedestrian safety, competitive advantages, increased real estate values and job connectivity.
It then follows that the past practice of touting the DEI benefits should cease. Instead the focus can be on where we need trails to complete your community’s network of trails. Cleveland, for example, has 300 miles of trails today but some areas still do not have access to trails. Many times this is because no individual has stepped forward to champion a trail in that area or there is low demand or a lack of an appropriate place to build a cost effective trail.
Richard Louv wrote a book titled “Last Child in the Woods” that does an excellent job of laying out the mental health and learning benefits of trails and greenways, particularly for children. Dr. James Bissell, formally a vice president at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, told me he had done conclusive studies that proved nearly all children learned better in an outdoor environment and that many children with learning disabilities saw them disappear in outdoor settings. Children need exposure to nature to development and live healthy happy lives yet today they have far fewer options than ever before. The Trust for Public Land developed their goal of having every American within a 10 minute walk to green space with these findings in mind.
Cities are now forced to compete with one another for people and the quality of their green space has become a significant factor in attracting new talent. While I mentioned Cleveland has 300 miles of trails we are still behind Detroit, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh regionally. Last I knew, Houston had over 700 miles of trails. The High Line in New York hoped to draw 300,000 visitors a year but now hosts over 4 million a year. Over flowing parking lots at trail heads are a common occurrence across the country. Cleveland is building one of, if not the, largest new parks in America, the 23 acre Irishtown Bend Park. The local block club of which I am a member continues to advocate for more parking to accommodate what we expect to be over flow crowds from the three trails that converge there.
Thank you for the opportunity to address this important issue at a turning point in the future of great American trails and greenways. The bottom line is we should embrace the changes in front of us rather than fight them because the cause for trails and greenways is irrefutable. If this means some applicants need to resubmit their applications then I hope these suggestions will help. In an ideal world any changes forthcoming will not be retroactive but any trail worth building should be able to document how it will provide the many benefits they have proven to provide.
Lennie Stover
Founder, Red Line Greenway
Trail & Greenway Advocate
All Ages and Abilities
I disagree vehemently with Len on the parking lot comment^ He knows. Transit to TRAILS. All Purpose TRAILS are for ALL - bike tracks are ableist and eltist.
Lennie Stover made trail connections possible
Lennie Stover died while working outside on April 22, 2026. He was also working on Snake Hill Trail to connect Brookside Park to residents and Veteran's Trail in Summit county to connect Hudson via the Bike and Hike Trail to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. https://www.starksfamilyfh.com/obituaries/leonard-stover/memories I posted this remembrance but should have noted that Lennie BUILT the Red Line Greenway.
Lennie's legacy will live on forever. It should be noted that the Cleveland Metroparks received their first-ever federal transportation grant BECAUSE of Lennie's contributions in terms of volunteer work, preliminary drawings and engineering, pitch book and his MANY public presentations.
The photo collage shows Metroparks Board Trustee Dan Moore and Jim Kastelic, principal planner at the time, who helped Metroparks get the application submitted and Phase l, Phase ll of the trail built cost effectively and in record time. Notably, the same grant application allowed the Metroparks to connect the towpath to Wendy Park and Whiskey Island. The trail was financed BECAUSE it was a multimodal #TransitToTrails project - giving people from all walks of life ACCESS to the Cuyahoga River and to Lake Erie.
Lennie was always quick to credit Stan Adams, Pete Presson and Dutch Harley for their Rotary "Service Above Self" commitment that started the Red Line project in 1977. Also, shown is Erin Ryan, who both Lennie and I were so fortunate to know and love and who we also lost too soon. Hoople's holds a special place in the hearts of everyone who dedicated time to make the Red Line Greenway a reality.
It is my greatest hope that Lennie's passion to connect people will be realized with the completion of Phase III to Tower City and to the future east side trail network. My personal thank you to Lennie's family and friends who made his life so rich and wonderful.
So I asked GROK about federal transportation grants to park districts- the TIGER grant for Red Line Greenway was the FIRST ever federal transportation grant Metroparks received.https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/planning-design/archived-proje... "> https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/about/planning-design/archived-projects/red-line-greenway