Dave Whited, Chief of Planning and Development for Metroparks Serving Summit County, says the eight mile long trail is a joint venture between Metroparks, the city of Tallmadge and Metro Regional Transit Authority, which owns the entire corridor. Whited says Metroparks has a licensing agreement with the transit authority to build the trail, and maintain it along their corridor.

Whited explains the project

He says the trail will be built in a couple of phases. Construction of phase one would begin either late this year or early next year. Half will be finished in 2011, with the second half being completed in 2012 or 2013.

The new trial will connect downtown Akron with the Portage Trail, which has just been finished in Kent, and will allow students from the University of Akron and Kent State to have access to each others campus.

It will cost around $9 million to do the project. Whited explains they are not sure of the final cost yet, because they haven't yet started engineering plans for the trail. The trial will be paid for through a series of grants. One $3 million federal grant has already been secured for the project.