The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and towpath trail are fully reopen in Cuyahoga Valley National Park with riverbank erosion work officially completed Monday.
CVNP and contractors spent the last three years levelling seven high-risk riverbanks, adding stone and stakes to protect the bank from erosion and native plants to maintain a natural appearance.
At an eighth site in Peninsula, near Lock 29, a 242-foot-long retaining wall was built to ensure that erosion doesn’t impact the railroad nearby, Cuyahoga Valley National Parks Chief of Facility and Project Management Janet Popielski said.
"This wall is just one example of the impact of $24.9 million that was invested here at Cuyahoga Valley to stabilize over 6,000 feet of riverbank in the park," she said.
The project was funded by the Great American Outdoors Act which supports restoration projects on public land.
CVNP worked with Barberton-based contractors RiverReach Construction on the project, along with Akron's GPD Group for engineering and Stow-based environmental consultants EnviroScience, Inc.
"We protected a lot of infrastructure. A lot of jobs were created," RiverReach co-founder Shannon Carneal said. "It kept us busy for about three years. The design build team, the engineers went to work, and we were involved right from the start."
The Cuyahoga River has migrated naturally overtime, shifting its position and threatening two sites near the railroad and six near the towpath trail. Addressing erosion with natural-looking solutions was key, Janet Popielski said.
"We have to address the failing infrastructure while honoring the cultural, historic, and environmental significance of the places that we're protecting, and this is no small task," she said. "So every project must be thoughtfully designed and carefully executed within its surroundings."
The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad modified its operations once the project was announced in 2022. Completing the project restored an essential part of Peninsula, Mayor Dan Schneider said.
"Now the train continues to run. Without that project the train doesn't run so which would have been very depressing," Schneider said. "Now they're talking about extending to Cleveland, they're talking about extending to Canton, so yeah, it's great thing."
