The City of Akron will officially open the last section of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath through the city on Wednesday, October 26, at 10:30 a.m., at the intersection of the Canal with Bartges Street.
Dedication ceremonies will be led by Mayor Plusquellic. Other speakers include Dan Rice, President and CEO of the Ohio-Erie Canalway Coalition; Keith Shy, Executive Director of Metro Parks Serving Summit County; and Paul Stoehr, Deputy Superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Rice will lead walkers to the ceremony from the Richard Howe House on West Exchange Street at Water Street, where some street parking is available.
Bartges Street will be open to guests at South Main Street, and parking will be permitted on Bartges near the Towpath.
Akron is the first major city in the state of Ohio to have the entire length of the hike and bike trail completed within its corporate limits.
The Towpath trail between Falor Street at Spaghetti Warehouse to Bartges Street, and the Bartges Street bridge have bee re- constructed at a cost of $6 million, most of it from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), better known as the federal stimulus.
The bridge is scheduled to open from South Main to Rand Street before the end of November. The new Towpath takes users through property that was once the BFGoodrich factory complex.
