The Cuyahoga Valley National Park needs to do more to get visitors to stay longer and do more in order to get to the next level.That assessment was offered by Superintendent Stan Austin in a talk Thursday before 260 people at the Akron Roundtable.In his talk, Austin was part cheerleader, part chief executive and part vision maker for the park. He hailed the park’s partners, programs, features and 4,000 volunteers. He called the park a major economic force in Northeast Ohio. He encouraged the audience to get involved.Cuyahoga Valley is a cutting-edge park that is doing things other national parks are not and is widely hailed within the 394-unit national park system, he said.“Quite simply, the place is awesome,” he said. “This is a fantastic park.”He said he wants the Cuyahoga Valley to be as iconic as what he called “those Y parks” — Yellowstone and Yosemite.Austin also told the audience that he wants to see better signs to direct the park’s 2.5 million visitors to attractions in the 33,000-acre federal park between the gateways of Akron and Cleveland.It is too confusing and difficult for visitors to navigate their way through the park, he said.Cuyahoga Valley also needs a central destination-style visitor center, he said.“There is no place that people consider a home base, a one-stop facility” with trail information, shopping and food, like other national parks have, he said. Such centers are part of the national park experience, he said. “But we’re going to get there.”The park has three small visitor centers: in Valley View, Boston Township and Cuyahoga Falls.Overnight accommodationsAustin said the park needs to do more to accommodate overnight visitors in the park and in neighboring communities.The park is taking a serious look at allowing more overnight camping, he said.At present, there is one inn, one bed and breakfast and very limited camping in the park.The park needs to work more closely with neighboring communities to fill motel rooms around the park as long-distance visitors increase in numbers, he said.The park might work with local communities to boost recreational vehicle camping, he said.Cuyahoga Valley might consider speed limits for bicyclists on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, Austin said.The number of collisions has dropped, but the park might impose low-speed zones along busy sections of the trail to boost safety and minimize conflicts between bicyclists and walkers, he said.The park is still trying to determine the best remedy for four deteriorating bridges on the Old Carriage Trail in Sagamore Hills Township, he said.Finding a solution could cost as much as $800,000.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.