A Trail for Your Commute

So I am riding my bike one day on Riverside Drive on the way over towards Lunken Airport from downtown. Wow! Is this road busy during commute time for drivers! Drivers, caffeine induced, trying to get to work and at times some are late. I have been one of them. I have nothing against people traveling to work, we need them! But.....it is hard to see all of the cyclists and runners, especially when the sun is just coming up over the horizon.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get off this road? Well that’s what the final 4 miles of the Ohio River Trail, so called THE FINAL LINK will do for us.

A friend showed me some pictures of the rail that the new recreational trail will eventually reside. I walked part of it after the ride, and I couldn’t believe in some sections, that I was actually near the road or near downtown. What a fantastic views between Riverside Drive (below) and Columbia Parkway (above) as you travel down the river.

So we have some work to do. First, we need money to build the trail, private funds to go along with the public funds to create this great FINAL LINK, which when done will stretch all the way from Newtown to downtown. Over 75% of the cost will come from Federal, State and local funds, with the City of Cincinnati kicking in a great grant to support the project. We have the support of our Mayor and City Council. Yeah!

Now we just need to get through this economic downturn, raise some money and soon we will be able to enjoy a first class recreational trail. And oh by the way, after it is down there are plans to link the Sawyer Point area to trails being developed in Northern Kentucky too!

So join me in being a part of THE FINAL LINK!

-- Dave Szkutak

Building A Web of Transportation and Fun

I used to be a Snob-Cyclist who was too cool for trails. I thought they were boring, straight and flat like the railroad beds that serve as their foundation. But that was before my experiment in oil-free vacations at the height of gas prices last summer.

One of my best friends lives in Cleveland and I hadn’t seen her for a while. So I packed a handlebar bag and 4 panniers (big bags that attach to racks over the front and back wheels of a bike) and headed north. I took my time, starting out early in the morning and finishing everyday by two o’clock in the afternoon. It took me 3 1/2 days to get to my destination but I got religion before the end of day one. Trails are more than a strip of pavement. Trails are a community. They are the super highways of non-motorized transport.

On the trail there’s always somebody to ask for directions when you get lost, somebody to talk to when you’re sick of your own company. The first night at my campground I got two dinner invitations from families who had come to Ohio just to ride our trail: one from Florida, the other from Illinois. Restaurants, gift shops, ice cream parlors, rest areas, campgrounds and bike shops have sprouted up all along the way. After I left the bike path for the open road just south of Columbus, I came to appreciate how much more comfortable it is to ride along in the shade without the worry of cars. It’s hot on that black top at the end of June.

My trip totaled almost 600 miles, about a third of it on trails. In the past, I’ve traveled the world and stayed in plenty of fancy hotels. But I’ve never had more fun and met more interesting people than I did pedaling to Cleveland and back. I can’t wait until trails connect neighborhoods and attractions all over our city and all over our state in one great big web of alternative transportation and recreation fun. The Ohio River Trail is for everybody. Let’s get it done.


Kathy Holwadel is Chair of Cincinnati Bike/PAC