Pepper Pike's Gates Mills Boulevard Trail Was Planned for a Train in 1928

"It's a lot better than the village dump." That was Mayor Richard Bain's line in June 2025, when he opened the first phase of the Gates Mills Boulevard Trail. He meant it as a joke, but he was also being accurate. The 130-foot-wide grass median that now holds a winding asphalt path has served several purposes over the past century. Only one of them was the purpose it was built for.

As of this fall, the paved path runs from the Shaker Boulevard Circle almost to Cedar Road. The trail work completed this summer adds close to another mile beyond the original 1.5. Seen alone, that sounds like a nice park getting longer. Read against the boulevard's history, it is something more practical. A strip of land laid out to move people between homes is being used that way at last, and the city is attaching new walkways to it one street at a time.

A Boulevard Built Around a Rail Line

Gates Mills Boulevard came out of a 1928 plan by the Van Sweringen interests. The boulevard would run northeast from Shaker Boulevard to Old Mill Road near Mayfield Road and serve a "Country Estate" development of lots roughly five to ten acres each. Light rail was to run down the center of the median, one set of tracks in each direction, much like the Shaker Rapid. The Van Sweringens did build the Shaker Rapid on boulevard medians, and that line reached Green Road in 1937.

The Pepper Pike segment got far enough to leave its mark. According to the city's own project history, the clearing, earthwork, sewers, pavement and curbs were all finished. The tracks were put on hold when the Great Depression stalled this and many other large development projects.

You can still read the rail plan on a map. The Shaker Boulevard Circle is only half a circle because it was designed as a large turnaround for trains. A similar wide turnaround sits at the far eastern end of the boulevard in Gates Mills Village. Some secondary streets in that part of Pepper Pike were first laid out as service entrances for the estate houses the boulevard was supposed to serve.

When the trains never arrived, the median sat empty and later became a village dump. Local coverage places its rodent-control years in the 1930s and '40s. After that it was simply a very wide lawn between two lanes of traffic for decades.

What the First Mile and a Half Turned Into

Phase 1 opened on June 20, 2025. It is a 10-foot-wide asphalt multipurpose path running about 1.5 miles from the Shaker Boulevard Circle to Lander Road and the Ursuline College campus. The landscape architecture firm MKSK designed it. The path curves around existing trees, mounds and plantings instead of running straight down the middle.

At the opening, Bain reported what had gone into the ground: nearly 200 shade and ornamental trees, 1,600 native perennials and 868 native shrubs. Pollinator meadows and 2,300 spring bulbs were still to come. He called the path a "beautiful eastern gateway into Pepper Pike."

The first phase cost about $1.6 million. Reported funding included a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and $250,000 in federal ARPA money passed to the city by Cuyahoga County. A separate $800,000 county grant went toward resurfacing the boulevard itself, not the trail. On opening day, the coverage showed families on bikes, scooters and roller skates.

Walking It End to End This Fall

Phase 2 picks up at the Lander Road and Fairmount Boulevard circle and runs nearly another mile toward Cedar Road at the Mayfield Heights border. In March, the forecast was a finished path "well before the end of summer." The paving held to that schedule. Bain's July newsletter said people were walking and biking it "as soon as the asphalt set (and a few even before)." The landscaping is a separate timeline, covered below.

Heading northeast, the full route looks like this:

1. Shaker Boulevard Circle. You start at the half-circle originally designed as the rail turnaround. City project materials describe the west end as adjoining Shaker/Brainard Circle Park.
2. The Phase 1 median. About 1.5 miles of winding path through the 2025 plantings, ending at Lander Road and Ursuline College.
3. The Lander/Fairmount circle. The path goes around the outside of the circle, never through it. Half of the loop is a 10-foot trail and the other half matches the 5-foot Lander Road sidewalk, City Engineer Don Sheehy told council.
4. The Phase 2 median. Almost another mile of fresh asphalt toward Cedar Road.
5. Just short of Cedar Road. The design ends the trail before Cedar, with a refuge island so people have a safer place to wait before crossing. Mayfield Heights has not resumed plans for a connecting trail on its side.

Some practical points before you go. The city's trail fact sheet describes occasional benches and waste receptacles, and says the project includes no dedicated parking lots, structures or lights. That puts evening walks on a shrinking window as October goes on. The September newsletter notes dog-waste stations along the trail system and asks pet owners to use them. The one parking spot the city has named is the City Hall lot, used as the meeting point for the October 4 Bike with the Mayor ride along the boulevard trails.

The Second Mile Still Looks Unfinished, and That's on Schedule

The newly paved stretch will look bare next to the 2025 plantings for a while. The city's September newsletter says the trail portion of Phase 2 is complete and that landscaping and retaining-wall work will begin soon. Full completion is expected in spring 2027. In February, council voted without dissent to bring MKSK back to design the second phase. The September 16 council agenda included a motion to award the Lander-to-Cedar landscaping contract to L. Caticchio & Son for up to $451,757.50.

The two phases also cost different amounts. Phase 1 came in around $1.6 million. Phase 2 was estimated at about $1 million in March, with its own $500,000 ODNR grant already secured. Bain called it an "exciting extension" adding "nearly an additional mile."

How the Spine Gets Its Branches

This is the part that brings the 1928 idea back. The boulevard was meant to connect estates, and the city is now connecting streets to the boulevard.

In July, council approved contracts with Perk Co. for two segments. The Brainard extension, up to $740,070, runs from the north side of Shaker Boulevard Circle past Kersdale Road to North Woodland Road. The Fairmount extension, up to $968,311, runs from North Woodland Road east to Lander Circle and Butternut Lane. Both segments end at one of the boulevard's two circles. Once they're finished, a walker could leave the main trail at Shaker Boulevard Circle, follow Brainard and Fairmount, and rejoin it at Lander, with no stretch on the road shoulder.

More is planned. The city's July 13 trail update maps a proposed trail along the south side of Cedar Road and the west side of Lander, plus a future crosswalk across Lander's southern leg. ADA curb ramps, crosswalk and signal upgrades at existing intersections will be bid under a separate contract. A Belgrave Road sewer and pavement ordinance was on the September 16 agenda for its first reading. In the meantime, the September newsletter asks drivers on Brainard to expect delays near the walkway work.

Further out, city planning materials identify Gates Mills Boulevard as a possible regional link, with the Shaker median trail to the west and a SOM Center trail to the east. Both are described as potential connections, not funded routes. Bain's July message summed up where things stand: "The creation of a walkable Pepper Pike is well underway!"

If you live along Brainard, Fairmount or the boulevard and want to know how these walkways might change the way buyers see your street, Adam Kaufman follows these projects closely and is glad to talk it through. Just Ask Adam.