We visited the Thomas J. Evans Newark to Johnstown trail recently and have updated the review page.
The trail was resurfaced in '03, but it appears that little on no maintenance to the surface has been done since that time. Ordinarily, not much should need to be done, but in this case there are some hazards that could use some attention: There are several holes in the asphalt surface, mostly along the center of the trail, though we did see one or two along the edge as well. Riding from Johnstown, we found the first few were circled with bright paint, which helps riders to at least avoid them, but further along they are not marked and are harder to spot as you approach.
Other than a number of very small ripples (small bumps & tiny dips), the surface is in good condition. And that can present a bit of a false sense of security as you breeze along not necessarily expecting that unforseen hole in the pavement until it's too late.
Fat tires should roll over the holes with little problem, but a skinny-tired road bike would suffer a good jolt!
We visited this newly paved trail to explore the spurs that are being constructed to connect three Newark area trails together. The connection from the Thomas Evans Trail (Newark to Johnstown) to the Newark-OSU Campus Trail is complete. The connector wasn't marked during our visit, but lies near a bike tunnel along the trail where it begins to parallel Cherry Valley Road, just north of Main Street in Newark.
The trail extension continues eastward from the pedestrian bridge that crosses Route 16 to campus, and currently ends at the YMCA at 470 W. Church Street in Newark. The trail ends here, but if you continue east on Church over to East Main & Morris, you'll find the Panhandle Trail, less than two miles away!
The Thomas J. Evans bike path between Johnstown and Newark, Ohio is currently being repaved. As of October 28 they were just finishing that last mile or so near Newark.
They're doing a great job. They first dug a trench on both sides of the trail to sever any tree roots that were causing pavement cracks. Then they're putting down about a 2 inch layer of asphalt on top of the existing pavement.
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