We celebrate every little piece of trail that gets constructed. Here’s the scoop on some significant progress that took place this month after years in the making!

CROWN

In Cincinnati, the CROWN network is taking several steps closer to completion. On September 15, local leaders and community groups celebrated a one mile addition to Wasson Way. Now the trail extends 3.2 miles from Montgomery Road into Ault Park. What’s significant about this segment is that it’s the first part of Wasson Way to enter a Cincinnati Park. This new piece of trail can be accessed by foot or bike from the Marburg Trailhead (at the intersection of Wasson Road and Eastern Hills Lane), or you can hike in from the Ault Park Valley Trail on Observatory Avenue to reach a beautiful new set of stairs that navigate up to the former rail line.

Later this year, construction is scheduled to extend the trail over the first rail trestle, which traverses over the Ault Park Valley Trail, where it will then switch back down to Old Red Bank Road and connect with the Murray Path. You can expect a ribbon cutting for that piece likely in December.

We’re also planning on celebrating the extension of the Murray Path from Settle Street to Plainville Road later this year. Pavement is down and ready to roll, and the event will be scheduled after all the landscaping is installed this fall.

Finally, the Ohio River Trail West is nearly complete from Gilday/Riverside Park to Boldface Park in Sedamsville. We’re hoping to schedule a ribbon cutting for that this year too!

Great Miami River Trail

After several years in the making, the Great Miami River Trail now finally connects between Middletown and Franklin. On September 2, local leaders cut the ribbon a new 1.4 mile connector that links 9.1 miles of trail in Middletown to the 55 mile trail that runs from Franklin through Dayton to Piqua.

We’re working with Great Miami Riverway, MetroParks of Butler County, and many local government partners to make the case for investing in expanding the trail south next. There’s about 11 miles of trail in Hamilton, and Monroe has secured funding to build roughly 2.4 miles in their jurisdiction, but that still leaves two gaps totaling about 4.7 miles. We’re currently preparing a feasibility study with partners to identify the cost and strategy to close these gaps and finish a connected 83 miles of trail from Fairfield to Piqua!

---

Support this work

If you’re loving these new trail connections as much as we are, you can help support our work by attending our upcoming Annual Meeting & Fundraiser on October 23, 2021. Register here today!