MANSFIELD — Possibilities for a 1.1-mile, multi-use path linking the Richland B&O Trail to Trimble Road got a little more concrete on Tuesday.
About 8,305 square yards of concrete, that is.
Workers with the Adena Corp. began laying concrete on the $2.1 million trail that links the popular biking, walking and running trail to a tunnel that will take residents to — and under — the busy four-lane road.
City of Mansfield engineer Bob Bianchi said Adena is working quickly on a project that began this spring.
“The entire foundation (for the trail) with the stonework has been completed,” he said Tuesday morning. “Now it’s time for the forming and pouring of the concrete, six inches thick, on a trail that that is 11-feet wide in most places.”
Bianchi said there is an 800-foot section of the trail that will be 16 feet wide.
“That section is on a steeper grade to allow walkers to have a five-foot refuge to kind of get out of the path of a bicyclist,” the engineer said.
The concrete work began in the middle of the trail, working back toward the Richland B&O Trail. Once all the concrete is poured, the company will finish the grading and seeding along the edges of the trail’s berms
Work on the connector trail is scheduled to be done in October, but Bianchi said he thinks Adena is ahead of schedule.
“I think there will be some nice weekends … some nice days … that people will be able to use the trail yet this year,” he said.
(Below are photos taken Wednesday morning as concrete is poured for the first time on a multi-purpose trail that will connect the Richland B&O Trail to a tunnel under Trimble Avenue in Mansfield. The story continues below the images.)
In December 2024, the city’s Board of Control awarded a $1.9 million contract to Adena to construct the connector path. That path will connect to the tunnel beneath Trimble Road that Adena constructed in 2024.
The $2.1 million connector trail project, including design contracts, inspection and required wetlands mitigation, is being funded by:
— $900,000 in federal money through Richland County Regional Planning;
— $500,000 from the City of Mansfield’s American Rescue Plan Act funds;
— $450,000 from the Richland County Board of Commissioners through a jail services contract waiver;
— $150,000 from the state capital budget;
— $150,000 from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources
In January, CTL Engineering from Columbus was awarded a $234,840 inspection contract for the connector trail work, a path that includes an elevated boardwalk, drainage structures and drainage improvements.
Once the connector is complete, the Richland County Park District, which operates the B&O Trail, will take over maintenance of it.
The Richland B&O Trail spans 18 miles and connects four of Richland County’s communities on its trek between North Lake Park in downtown Mansfield to the Village of Butler.
Part of the connector travels through land owned by the Western Reserve Land Conservancy District, which granted access along the north side of the property.
