Before the bikeway
Long before the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway was conceived and built, the area it traverses adjacent to the Hocking River was a transportation corridor in a variety of ways. In searching for food or water, wildlife often created trails adjacent to rivers and then Native Americans followed these trails when hunting. According to Elizabeth Beatty and Marjorie Stone in Getting to Know Athens County, “The other major Indian trail crossing the county was the Hock-Hocking Trail, which entered from central Ohio at the northwest corner of the county, Nelsonville, and followed the Hocking River, as does Route 33, to Chauncey.”
Interests in salt production and future coal production pushed the state legislature to approve a lateral canal off of the Ohio-Erie Canal. The Hocking Valley Canal reached Nelsonville in 1840 and Athens in the autumn of 1843. The canal was used to ship many products including salt, coal, pork, wool, lumber, furniture, and iron. The canal was too difficult and expensive to maintain and the destructive flood of 1873 did a lot of irreparable damage. Many remnants of the old canal are adjacent to the Bikeway. It is enjoyable to look for the old canal bed, towpath, locks, and culverts hidden in the landscape.
Flat land adjacent to the Hocking River was prime real estate for a railroad that could carry more coal than could the struggling canal. The tracks of the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad reached Nelsonville in the summer of 1869 and that year the first load of coal left for Columbus. The tracks got to Salina in June 1870 and reached Athens in July 1870. The big bridge over the Hocking River was the railroad bridge that took the train up to what is now the Currier Street parking area and ended at the depot where University Commons housing now stands. The Railroad persisted through several business restructurings until 1949. Most of the County, Hocking College, and Nelsonville portions of the Bikeway are on old railroad right-of-way. Some of the Athens City section on the east end of town is also on old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad right-of-way.
The Bikeway traverses five different ownership jurisdictions and its construction and maintenance has been done as time, money, and politics has permitted. The first section of Bikeway to be constructed was by Ohio University on the flood levee that goes around campus. This was done in the early 1970’s and covered the area between O’Bleness Hospital and the City’s parkland on the east side. That was the only formal bikeway for many years due to lack of funding. In 1984, the Travel and Tourism Director, Dave Brennan, learned of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funds that were earmarked for engineering and construction of bikeways. The only catch for Athens County was that land had to be under the control of Athens County in order to build the bikeway. County Commissioner Roxanne Groff worked with Dave Brennan to apply for the funds which were approved with the caveat that they wouldn’t be released until Athens County secured the land on which the path would be built.
Most of the needed land (the old railroad bed) was owned by Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company (C&SOE, later AEP). C&SOE was willing to long-term lease the land to Athens County. However, 12 acres of old railroad land between Armitage and Currier Street was owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (Chessie System) and they were asking an exorbitant amount for the land. There could be no project without that land and fortunately the FHWA was willing to hold the earmarked funds until the mid-90’s when, needing tax relief, Chessie agreed to sell the 12 acres for approximately $10,000.
Now the County portion of the project could move forward and it was engineered, by the firm of Finkbeiner, Pettis, and Strout Inc., in two sections. The first section to be built in 1997 ran from Beaumont to Hocking College. The second section to be built in 1998 ran from Currier St. to Beaumont. The City of Athens engineered and built the portion from O’Bleness Hospital to Currier St. between 1999 and 2001. The consulting engineer for the project was George Mara. Several years later Athens City built the bikeway east to the parking area just past the main East State St. commercial district. Another phase a few years later took the path out to Holzer Clinic. In about 2007 RJM Engineering and the City of Nelsonville secured funding to build the portion through Hocking College’s campus and up to the Rocky Boot facility. The spur to Athens High School, also engineered by RJM Engineering, was completed in 2012. The County Road 24A extension, engineered by Triad Engineering, will be completed in 2018. Funding is currently being sought for a connection to the Village of Chauncey.
Beatty and Stone, Getting to Know Athens County.
