Metroparks Building New Trail at Royalview

A crew from the Student Conservation Association is building a new trail in the Cleveland Metroparks' in Strongsville.

The crew is expected to finish about Nov. 5.

Plans for the Royalview Picnic Area include commissioning a new shared use and hiking only trail, decommissioning several miles of failed trail alignments, and fixing or upgrading other parts of the trail system with new bridges, boardwalks and stairs.

The overall plan is to develop shared use (hiking and natural surface biking) on the east and west side of Royalview Creek. This connected network is dependent on being able to cost-effectively and safely cross Royalview Creek at the south end of the reservation.

Surveying and design options for this crossing will be completed this winter.

"If completed as planned, the trail system will ultimately consist of over 10 miles of trail with approximately 7 to 9 miles of a shared use hiking/natural surface bike trail," said John Mack, Metroparks' chief of natural resources.

The SCA crew will work on the first of approximately 5 miles of the planned trail, west of Royalview Creek.

The first phase, which started this month, will focus on hike/bike loops west of Royalview Creek, with the next phases continuing next year and into 2013.

The project is being paid by the Emerald Necklace Endowment Fund. 

The SCA is a national leader in trail design, construction and maintenance and provides trained trail crews at a reasonable cost. A "leader" crew, which is working here, is composed of highly trained people, who, during other times of the year, are leading trail crews of high school and/or college students.

"Use of SCA crews for certain trail projects is a great way to train our staff in state-of-the-art trail building techniques," said Brian Zimmerman, Cleveland Metroparks executive director-secretary. 

Surveys show 70 percent of Metroparks users identify trails as a priority, Zimmerman said.