Canal Park Trail Closure

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Zanesville’s Canal Park Trail, which officially broke ground on May 1st, is temporarily closed for its last minute construction projects.

Muskingum Valley Park District Executive Director Russell Edgington  described the projects that are left to be completed as well as planned, intermittent reopenings that will coincide with annual downtown events.

“One difficulty that we did have with our Canal Park Trail project was that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had a project that was also on the schedule for what they termed as an Emergency Dam Repair. And what people don’t really realize is this strip of land that we’re standing on is actually a dam. So there’s areas along the dam on the canal side where there’s sheet piling. And that’s the metal, kind of corrugated stuff that’s driven in,” Edgington said.

Water has gotten behind the metal barriers along the canal and began eroding the canal island. The trail projects have been delayed because the heavy equipment needed to make the vital repairs to the sheet pilings would damage the trail.   

“So then the second phase of this closure is the construction of the Canal Park Trail Project,” Edgington said. “And that’s an Appalachian Community Grant funded project. And it’s going to entail a bike path that comes off of the Y-Bridge and that path will then extend all the way back to the Lock Tenders House. So that’s the main component of the project. But there’ll be additional picnic facilities, landscaping and then one of the highlights will be a handicapped accessible kayak dock.”

Plans are for the canal to remain open for boat traffic but the canal island will be closed while the heavy construction is taking place. The parking area near the Y-Bridge is anticipated to be open for the Fourth of July festivities and grant stipulations dictate that the entire project must be finished before the end of October.