Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Planning begins to connect Ohio River Trail to Little Miami

The City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) is going ahead with the design and construction of an Ohio River Trail crossing over the Little Miami River at Kellogg Avenue, which will eventually connect to the Little Miami Scenic Trail.

In September 2005, DOTE received notice of a federal SAFETEA-LU funding earmark of $2,417,000 to construct a portion of the Ohio River Trail between Downtown and Salem Avenue.

The funds would have required a local match of $604,000 - or 20 percent of construction costs up to $3,021,000 - with any additional costs being the responsibility of the City.

The City intended to use the funds to complete the section of trail from Congress Avenue to Carrel Street, tying together the Corbin-Congress section (completed in 2005) and the Carrel-Lunken Airport section (currently out to bid) and providing a continuous connection between Lunken Airport and Schmidt Field.

Soon after, DOTE began to look into using the funding to construct a crossing over the Little Miami River with the goal of eventually connecting with the Little Miami Scenic Trail.

A working group consisting of the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, Anderson Township and the Hamilton County Park District not only chose where the trail would cross, but also advanced planning for the extension of the Little Miami Scenic Trail from the Village of Newtown into the City of Cincinnati.

The estimate for the cost of the trail is $2.5 million.

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati council supports Ohio River Trail (3/19/08)
City seeking comments for river trail funds (11/16/07)
Ohio River Trail: Three alternatives (5/18/07)