The Ohio River Trail

Mission Statement

The Mission of The Ohio River Way is to promote and enhance the recreational qualities of our region's most valuable natural resource, the Ohio River.

Whether you ride, walk, jog, or run, the Ohio River Trail will promote fitness and fun and take advantage of our region’s most valuable natural resource, the Ohio River. The trail will tie our neighborhoods into downtown and the world-class Cincinnati Riverfront Parks. And it will complete the connection from downtown to the Little Miami Scenic Trail that will eventually extend to Lake Erie.

So let’s take a ride! We start at the Newtown Bridge crossing the scenic Little Miami and ride through the Hamilton County Park Golf Center’s manicured back nine to the Clear Creek Park soccer fields, then along Route 32 to Beechmont. We pass under the Levee and enter the wild and natural Magrish Nature Preserve along the water’s edge to Kellogg Bridge. A new bike ramp and lane is constructed to make the safe passage back over the Little Miami to the south end of the Lunken Airport Loop. After the trail crosses at Wilmer, we now travel on the abandoned Oasis rail line to downtown. This four mile section between Columbia Parkway and Riverside Drive is lush with vegetation and has spectacular views of the river.

The next landmark we encounter is historic Columbia Tusculum with its gracious Victorians. Then we pass over the bridge at the base of Delta Avenue and ride above Schmidt Field. At the St. Andrews crossing, the views of St. Rose Church and the skyline start to appear. After the Collins Street and Rookwood overpass, we’re almost home. Take a breather at the stunning Theodore Berry International Friendship Park, and then the final stretch through Sawyer Point to the fabulous new Cincinnati Riverfront Park.

Be a Part of the Final Link

The missing link between downtown Cincinnati and a regional and statewide recreational trail system will not happen without your support. A $16 million dollar investment is required to complete the trail from Newtown to downtown. State, federal, local governments and Hamilton County Parks have identified $12 million to get the trail to Lunken but private sector funds of $4 million are required to finish the last section to downtown. Your financial participation will leverage many benefits for our community:

• Tie neighborhoods into downtown attractions and parks
• Enhance recruitment of the best and brightest
• Stimulate adjacent residential development
• Improve fitness of area residents
• Provide a healthy way to commute to work
• Increase quality of life ranking for our city

Our goal is to have the necessary pledges in hand by December 2009 and the trail com- pleted in 2010. Hamilton County Parks will manage the construction and maintain the trail, so we can enjoy it for years to come. This civic initiative is being led by Ohio River Way, an Ohio 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation. But the project would not be possible with- out many organizations providing parking and restroom facilities, engineering and plan- ning resources and many hours of collaboration on this major public-private partnership.

For Additional Information

For additional information on the Ohio River Trail, how to be involved or donate contact:

Ohio River Way
PO Box 43261
Cincinnati, Ohio 45243-0261
513-723-1916

The Ohio River Trail Campaign Co Chairs: Jan and Wym Portman

The Ohio River Way Chair: Rick Greiwe