You can now walk or ride the Gates Mills Boulevard median on continuous pavement from the Shaker Boulevard circle almost to Cedar Road. That's roughly two and a half miles, and the City of Pepper Pike says the project won't be finished until spring 2027. In Mayor Richard Bain's message in the September 2026 Pepper Pike Post, the city reported that "the trail portion has been completed," and that landscaping and retaining wall construction would begin soon.
The gap between "paved" and "finished" says a lot about how the project was built. Much of what's still on the schedule, or still waiting on a decision, sits at the edges of the median: the two traffic circles, the Cedar Road crossing, the Mayfield Heights border and Brainard Road. Those are the spots that decide whether this stays a long path in a median or becomes a walking route people can get onto and off of from the rest of the city.
Two Phases, One Median
The city calls the project Gates Mills Linear Park, and it went in as two separate builds, each backed by a $500,000 Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant.
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Route | Shaker Boulevard circle to Lander Road and the Ursuline College campus | Lander/Fairmount circle north toward Cedar Road, ending just short of it |
| Length | About 1.5 miles | Nearly 1 mile |
| Surface | 10-foot asphalt in the median | 10-foot asphalt |
| Public use | Walkers since October 2024; ribbon cutting June 20, 2025 | About 100 people walked or biked it at Celebrate Trails Day, April 25, 2026 |
| Funding | About $1.6 million, including a $500,000 ODNR grant and $250,000 in federal ARPA funds through Cuyahoga County | Estimated at about $1 million in March 2026, with $500,000 in secured ODNR grant money |
Both phases followed the same pattern. People used the pavement for months before any official finish date. When Phase 1 had its ribbon cutting in June 2025, cleveland.com reported that people had been walking it since the asphalt went down the October before. Phase 2 is following the same course. Cuyahoga County Planning used its April Celebrate Trails Day to introduce the new segment, months before the city reported the trail portion complete.
The schedule has also moved. In March 2026, the Chagrin Solon Sun reported that Phase 2 was expected to be done well before the end of summer. The September update kept the pavement on that schedule and moved the full project to spring 2027. That leaves the path in place and the landscaping and retaining walls still to come.
The Circles Were the First Design Problem
A median trail works well on a straight stretch of boulevard. It gets harder where the median ends. The Lander Road and Fairmount Boulevard circle is where Phase 1 hands off to Phase 2, and the trail doesn't cut through it.
According to the Chagrin Solon Sun's March report, the trail goes around the circle. One half uses a new 10-foot trail and the other uses the existing 5-foot sidewalk along Lander. On the ground, that means the route narrows to half its width for part of the loop. If you're out with a stroller, a dog on a long leash, or a group of riders, the circle is where you'll have to single up.
The circle is also where the trail meets Ursuline College at 2550 Lander Road. That makes the campus the natural midpoint between the two phases.
Why the North End Stops Short of Cedar Road
Phase 2 ends just before Cedar Road, at the Pepper Pike line with Mayfield Heights. The Chagrin Solon Sun reported that a small refuge island is planned ahead of the Cedar crossing. It also reported that Mayfield Heights hadn't revived its own proposal for a trail in its section of the median.
So for now, the north end is a turnaround point. Nothing continues on the other side of Cedar. Pepper Pike can build to its border, and the next piece depends on its neighbor.
That fits a larger regional picture. The Cuyahoga Greenways Plan, adopted by NOACA in January 2020, lays out a countywide network of more than 800 miles of trails and connections. A plan like that only becomes real when each city builds its own segment. Gates Mills Boulevard is Pepper Pike's segment, and it ends where the city's jurisdiction ends.
Brainard Road Is the Next Edge
The second way onto the trail network runs along Brainard Road, and right now that's where the construction cones are. Two Brainard projects show up in city documents, and they're easy to confuse.
- The Brainard Road walkway to Fairmount Boulevard. The September newsletter says work has officially begun on a new walkway along Brainard Road extending to Fairmount, with completion expected by winter 2026. The city warned drivers to expect delays and to watch for workers and changing traffic patterns.
- The Brainard Road trail from Cedar to Kersdale. This is a separate line item. The city's capital report budgets $960,000 for it, with no spending reported through March 31, 2026. A city update dated July 13, 2026, lists Brainard, Fairmount and Lander trail construction as part of the 2026 design-and-bid process. It shows the Brainard trail on the west side of the road, tying into the existing Cedar sidewalk, and notes that no work at the Brainard and Cedar intersection is planned in the immediate future.
Put together, Pepper Pike is building out from the median. Gates Mills Boulevard is the north-south spine, and walkways along Brainard, Fairmount and Lander would connect it to the streets around it. The April 2026 finance report shows the scale of the commitment. It budgets $1.25 million for Gates Mills Boulevard Trail Phase 2 and $960,000 for the Brainard segment, together more than $2.2 million in one year's report.
What's Still on the List Before Spring 2027
City documents list these remaining items:
- Landscaping along Phase 2, scheduled to begin after the trail work.
- Retaining wall construction on Phase 2, also following the completed pavement.
- The refuge island before the Cedar Road crossing, part of the Phase 2 design reported in March.
- The Brainard Road walkway to Fairmount, targeted for winter 2026.
The city posts current closures and project notes on its Construction Updates and Road Closures page, which the mayor pointed residents to in the September newsletter. The same message reminded trail users to clean up after their pets and noted that dog waste stations are placed throughout the trail system.
A Midpoint Worth Stopping At This Fall
The trail and Ursuline College share the Lander Road crossing, so a walk along the median can include a stop indoors. Ursuline's Wasmer Gallery is showing New Masters 4: Women Artists of Northeast Ohio, a juried exhibit of work by 51 women artists from the region. It runs from October 2, 2026, through January 21, 2027. The gallery lists visiting hours as Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 5 p.m., and asks visitors to check its page for updates before coming.
That gives the trail a turnaround with a reason to stop. Head north from the Shaker Boulevard circle on Phase 1, visit the gallery at Lander, and then either loop back or keep going on the newer Phase 2 pavement toward Cedar. Over the next several months you'll pass the landscaping and wall work on the north segment.
The city's next event on the calendar is Halloween trick-or-treat on Saturday, October 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. On October 4, Bike with the Mayor started from the City Hall parking lot and rode the Gates Mills Boulevard trails before the Fall Harvest Festival. That suggests the city already sees the median trail as a place for community events, even with the north end still under construction.
At Smith Garofoli Group, we keep track of projects like the Gates Mills Linear Park and the Brainard Road walkway because they change how a street works from one season to the next. If you'd like to know how the trail work affects a particular block, please contact us. We're glad to share what we know.
