Work to begin on the Clyde-to-Bellevue bike trail

The Sandusky County Park District on Thursday awarded a $990,000 contract to Mark Haynes Construction of Norwalk to build the Clyde-to-Bellevue section of the North Coast Inland Trail.

County park and city officials from Clyde and Bellevue broke ground in the park area south of the Clyde Municipal Building. Park District Director Steve Gruner said the 4.76-mile section would run east from North Main Street in Clyde along the old railbed to County Road 177, ending just east of Bellevue. The goal was to finish it by September.

Forty years in the making

Gruner said a trail on the railbed was first suggested in 1972 and 1973, when the railroad talked about abandoning the line. Clyde’s city manager raised it again in 1985, and a committee started studying it in 1987. The city of Clyde bought the abandoned railbed to carry Clyde Light & Power lines, and that land became the trail corridor. The Clyde-to-Fremont section opened in 1997.

This was the last piece of the trail in Sandusky County to go out for bid. The North Coast Inland Trail is planned to cross northern Ohio from the Indiana line toward Lorain County. Maps are on the Sandusky County Park District site.

For other outdoor stops nearby, see the Castalia Blue Hole and Seneca Caverns. More in Local News.