As the Towpath Trail inches its way from Old Harvard Road to the Flats, Cleveland’s south side and its neighbors aren’t waiting to get connected. Brooklyn Heights, Parma, Seven Hills and Independence are banding together to create the West Creek Greenway Trail, a 16-mile on-and off-road loop with linkages to the Towpath at Canal Road on the southern end and at the Cleveland Metroparks’ CanalWay Center on the northern end. Catalyzed by the West Creek Reservation, the group has already completed two sections of trail. Read more here.

The West Creek Greenway Trail will ultimately link with a new trail that the Metroparks plans to build from Old Harvard into Slavic Village, heading northeast to its Mill Creek Falls. From the falls, cyclists (and pedestrians) can head into the heart of Slavic Village on Morgana Run Trail, a 2-mile former train line that was converted to recreation path in a first for Cleveland. Read the story about this ‘rails-to-trails’ success here.

Beating West Creek to the punch: Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood recently dedicated the Treadway Creek restoration project, including a 2/3-mi. bike path connector. It’s the first ‘neighborhood connector’ to link up to the Towpath.

Speaking of the Towpath Trail, the group leading the effort to complete it will hold a public meeting on June 17 to unveil how they plan to build a segment of trail that navigates the megaliths of industry in the valley from Harvard to Steelyard Commons. See detailed maps of the proposed alignment and converse with the team that will bring this next segment to fruition.