After 26 years, the Westerville section of the Ohio to Erie corridor has now reached the end of its life cycle, even with the City's application of preventative maintenance treatments.

To keep this state gem intact, Westerville will begin the process of rebuilding the trail corridor with an improved 4.5” asphalt pavement profile that will allow for more cost effective maintenance in the future. In order to achieve the long term fiscally responsible result, the entire pavement profile has to be removed to allow for the additional subsoil excavation and pavement profile rebuild.This application is for rebuilding the Ohio to Erie sections from Old County Line Road to Dogwood Lane, on either side of the Ohio to Erie - County Line Road Bridge.

The City of Westerville is seeking assistance with the maintenance of two sections of the Ohio to Erie Trail built in 1998. During the city’s early days of trail construction, the industry construction standard was a lightweight 3” asphalt pavement profile that maximized the trail length over the pavement profile strength. The result maximized trail system mileage, but has made maintenance more expensive, because there is not enough surface asphalt to allow for a more cost effective mill and pave maintenance approach.

Westerville was an early supporter of the social, physical, and structural benefits of trails and constructed much of its system in the late 1990s. Those pavements have now reached the end of their design life and need to be replaced. The City professionally manages all of its transportation infrastructure, including the trail network, through the use of an outside consultant who evaluates and records the observed pavement distresses and scores the pavement numerically (known as the Pavement Condition Index). The data collected in this evaluation assists the City with selecting an appropriate pavement maintenance treatment.

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