Newark has been a longtime player in the Ohio trail game. The original Thomas J. Evans Trail, or Newark to Johnstown Bikeway, was the cornerstone for area trail development and is one of the older bikeways in the state. Though it stood as a lone sentinel for many years, recent times have seen steady progress in trail development across the city and beyond its eastern border.

Maps Newark Trail Network Thomas J. Evans Trail Panhandle Trails Blackhand Gorge Trail

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Connections Throughout the Community

This development has spawned the Panhandle Trail on the city's eastside, as well as a connection between the Newark-Johnstown Bikeway and the local OSU-Newark campus trails. The latter by way of a nifty bridge over Rt. 16, the local 4-lane highway. Include another bikeway along the Licking River and the nearby Blackhand Gorge Trail and you have ample recreation and commuting opportunities throughout the community.

The Main Attraction ..?

But it doesn't stop there. Perhaps the biggest shaker on the Newark trail scene originates outside the area, the Ohio-to-Erie Trail. Should plans for an alternate Panhandle Route develop, the bikeway would pass directly through Newark by way of the Johnstown to Newark Bikeway and Panhandle Trail! The impetus behind this plan could result in more bikeway miles and further trail connections within the community making Newark a major part of the larger Ohio bikeway network.