Press Release
Village of Peninsula Closes Akron-Peninsula Road
Worsening Landslides in CVNP
Dec 8, 2020 - Peninsula, OH
The Summit County Engineer’s Office has been getting several questions regarding the recent closure of Akron-Peninsula Road by the old Brandywine golf course. The village of Peninsula made the decision to close the roadway due to an active landslide threatening the integrity of the roadway. The village owns and maintains the road and we have offered our assistance. They are currently analyzing their options.
Landslides are a worsening problem on roadways running through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The features that make the area a scenic place to live and hike are also what makes the roads so difficult to maintain. SCE is monitoring several active landslides on Boston Mills Road and Valley View Road. We have applied for funding for both and were successful in getting a small amount for Boston Mills Road and approximately $2 million for Valley View Road. The overall cost of fixing the landslides on Boston Mills is $40 million, however. SCE is currently repairing a landslide on West Bath Road in Bath Township and the nearly $1 million construction project is being paid for entirely with local dollars.
Grant funding for active landslides is scarce. Emergency funds are available through FEMA, but those only become available after a roadway fails, which is exactly what local governments are trying to prevent. We have reached out to federal representatives to ask for additional grant programs for roads running through federal lands. It is our hope that Congress will reinstate a Public Lands Highway discretionary grant program, which was a much more robust program than the current Federal Lands Access Program, that could address these problems.