Ohio River Trail Update – Fall 2009

The goal of connecting the Ohio River with the Great lakes with a 453-mile bike/hike trail in the next decade is making steady progress in communities throughout Ohio. To date 262 miles are completed and 54 under construction. The most difficult section to complete of course is in Cincinnati, from Lunken to downtown.

Taking the leadership on the Little Miami Trail, Jack Sutton, Director of the Hamilton County Park District is in the planning/engineering phase on the extension of the Little Miami Trail from Newtown to Beechmont and will start construction within the year. Jack is currently working on securing the balance of the funds for the Beechmont to Salem section and a State Capital Grant of $1 million has jumped started the effort.

Wym and Jan Portman are leading Ohio River Trail private sector campaign to raise $3 million for downtown to Lunken. To date $1.1 million has been pledged. And, at this time there are three sections of the Ohio River Trail being managed by the City of Cincinnati that are moving forward. They include the following. The Elm Street to Main section is currently being built as part of the relocation of Mehring Way. The second section from Wilmer to Carrel Street is scheduled to be constructed next year. Finally, the Lunken/Wilmer to Salem section will take about 2 years for the environmental phase and an additional two years for the design and construction phase to be completed in 2013.

Assisting with all the legal and political challenges of the trail are Jeff Schloemer, Bruce Petrie and Rick Greiwe. The downtown to Carrel Street section will be built on an abandoned line in the Oasis Rail Corridor. SORTA has worked out a lease agreement with the Hamilton County Park District to manage the construction and to operate and maintain the trail. This agreement will be renewable on an annual basis. State and Federal transit authorities want to keep all the options open for future passenger rail therefore the trail is considered “temporary.”

The Oasis Corridor is approximately 50FT wide, which is generally enough real estate to accommodate both rail and trail in the future. The lease for the temporary trail still has to be approved by the Federal authorities.

Fortunately there are many examples of transit corridors that accommodate Rails with Trails and the Ohio River Way team will continue to push forward with their mission to leverage the recreational qualities of the Ohio River which is our region’s most valuable natural resource.