Rails-to-Trails launches project to link Heartland Trail segments

Rails-to-Trails of Wayne County will “close the gap” of the Heartland Trail bike trail beginning this summer. Construction will begin on this section in May 2025 and will be completed by Oct. 31 of this year.

“Rails-to-Trails of Wayne County is a volunteer nonprofit organization that has been developing abandoned railroad corridors into paved public multiuse paths since the mid-1990s,” said Sue Corfman, a volunteer with the organization. “RTWC has developed four paved trails: 2.8 miles of the 10.5-mile Sippo Valley Trail from Dalton to Massillon; the 7-mile County Line Trail from Rittman to Creston; the tiny half-mile Salt Creek Trail, which starts in Fredericksburg and connects to the Holmes County Trail; and two Heartland Trail sections.

“There are already two paved sections of the Heartland Trail which currently are not connected. These sections include the 1.3-mile section from the downtown Orrville trailhead through a grassy section of Orr Park that includes a skate park, a dog park, the Orrville Public Library’s Storybook Trail and then continues onto Allen Avenue. The second current paved portion is a 2.6-mile stretch that starts at Forrer Road and ends about one-third of a mile past Market Street in Marshallville.”

This latter section includes lots of farmland and wooded areas and also was designed for use by equestrians.

The group has been working to connect these paved sections of the Heartland Trail with a 1.6-mile stretch that goes from Allen Avenue in Orrville, traversing the Orrville Solar Energy Farm, Lavender Fields, crossing Little Chippewa Creek and connecting up with Forrer Road to create a continuous 5.5-mile paved trail. The group has faced several challenges in attempting to connect the trail including both financial and logistical.

“The average cost of building each mile of trail is about a million dollars, but that amount can fluctuate depending on drainage issues, right-of-way negotiations, deteriorating bridges and other challenges,” Corfman said. “State and federal grants may cover part of the construction costs, but the rest comes from donations from local volunteers, members, businesses and grants from foundations.”

Given the length of the trail and the terrain it is traversing, it can take years to close the gap on a trail such as this. The RTWC was fortunate in receiving several grants to bring this project to fruition.

“The project has been supported by a grant from the Wayne County Community Foundation and a grant from the Robert and Esther Black Family Foundation Fund of the Richland County Foundation,” Corfman said. “RTWC is grateful for this generous support.”

RTWC also holds several miles of Wayne County railroad in reserve for future development, but its current mission is to continue to improve the Heartland Trail from Orrville to Clinton, with the connection giving trail users access to a large network of trails including the Ohio to Erie Trail between Cincinnati and Cleveland, the Ohio and Erie Canalway Towpath Trail, and the planned Great American Rail Trail, which will span the country from Washington State to Washington, D.C.

RTWC plans to extend the Heartland Trail again, this time to Coal Bank Road, with construction slated to begin in mid-2026. Anyone wanting to support its mission can send donations to Rails-to-Trails of Wayne County, P.O. Box 1566, Wooster, OH 44691.