Mentor Receives Federal Grant For Headlands Bike Trail

The city of Mentor has received $600,000 in federal funds to help pay for bike lanes along Jordan Drive from Corduroy Road to South Rambler Road.

Mentor applied for and received one of the Federal Transportation Enhancement grants offered via the Northeast Ohio Nationwide Coordinating Agency.

The money will pay for most of the $900,000 project. The remainder will be paid for by the city of Mentor.

The project will resurface and widen that 3,000-foot-long portion of Jordan Drive from 22 to 32 feet wide. The additional 10 feet will come from the 5-foot-wide bike lanes added on each side.

Construction is expected to begin in the fall of this year and take three to four months, City  Engineer Dave Swiger said. Traffic will be maintained in both directions during the entire project with the help of flaggers he said.

The Jordan Road stretch is just one of the areas where the city has looked to expand its bikeway system.

Mentor also would like to add multi-use paths on Jordan Drive from South Rambler until extant bike lanes on Headlands Road. That phase of the project will be pursued when outside funding becomes available, Swiger said.

In 1999, the League of American Bicyclists gave Mentor a Bicycle Friendly Community Award. It was one of only two cities in the region to receive the distinction.