CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — In August 2024, News 5 was in the Merriman Valley after devastating flooding swept through the region.
Businesses and homes were shuttered with damage as families tried to pick up the pieces.
During that storm, Canyon Brook Drive collapsed. The road has been shut down ever since.
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Canyon Brook Drive is a small road leading into the Timber Top apartment complex off Northampton Road.
For years, the Woodridge Local School District used it to transport more than 200 students who live there.
Since the beginning of this school year, school bus drivers have been unable to use Canyon Brook Drive.
The alternative is to pick up students using Canyon Brook Parkway, a steep hill inside the Timber Top apartment complex.
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When the weather was warm at the beginning of the year, using the hill on Canyon Brook Parkway was tricky but not unsafe. Woodridge Local Schools bus drivers practiced the route and utilized "spotters" on the buses for extra safety.
When temperatures are below freezing, the steep hill is unsafe for a school bus to drive down to pick up children.
"If it turns to ice, just taking a bus down there is not safe. Our alternate stop is safe for the buses to approach, it's just going to be a challenge with everybody coming up there. because we have quite a few students that live in the area," said Rob Williams, Supervisor of Transportation at Woodridge Local Schools.
More than 200 Woodridge students live in Timber Top, and 140 live below the big hill on Canyon Brook Parkway. The district is concerned that if the bus stops at the top of the hill, students will trek up it to get a ride.
"We do not feel that that's safe. For kids especially when it's dark in the morning, dark in the evening, and there's not a sidewalk available to them," said N'ecole Ast, Superintendent of Woodridge Local Schools.
The City of Cuyahoga Falls is also concerned about getting emergency services to residents in the complex without the flat access road.
"We knew it was a little bit dangerous for us because if we get called for mutual aid for Timber Top, but if we get called there to help with items, which we do, we would use that back entrance for police and fire. We no longer can," said Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters.
The mayor said the road is still shuttered partly because of a land ownership issue.
"The owner of the property where the road is used to own Timber Top. So he sold Timber Top, but he still owns the property that the road traverses," said Walters.
Canyon Brook Drive is partly privately owned and partly under the jurisdiction of the cities of Akron and Cuyahoga Falls.
The road is just outside the Timber Top apartment complex. AIY Properties, which owns Timber Top, said it has tried to work with the private owner of the road but has made no progress.
Walters said the City of Cuyahoga Falls has heard briefly from the city of Akron about the road.
"They realize a portion is in Akron, a portion is in Falls, so it's going to have to be a joint effort if something happens there. Fortunately, we have a meeting set up and we will see what we can do. We will put all our heads together," said Walters.
While the road remains closed, Woodridge Local Schools asks affected families to download the "Stop Finder" app. The app will notify families in real time whether the bus can make it down the big hill.
If the bus stops at the top, the district would like families to drive students up the hill to get to the bus.
The mayor said Summit County also has a vested interest in Canyon Brook Drive, it maintains a large sewer line in the area and needs access to the line from the road.
The county, City of Cuyahoga Falls and Akron are set to meet in the coming weeks to discuss fixing the road.
