Group has hopes for Mill Creek

Group has hopes for Mill Creek
By Jessica Brown • • November 16, 2009

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runs through areas of Cincinnati that are anything but scenic.

It winds behind ugly factories, blighted buildings and along railroad tracks in
easy earshot Interstate 75 traffic.

But the long-term vision for the waterway -and the budding greenway bike trail
along it - is beautiful, supporters say.

Representatives of the Mill Creek Restoration Project relayed their vision
Monday to State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, state Rep. Denise Driehaus,
D-Price Hill, and others during a tour of the corridor. The Restoration Project
will seek $1.5 million in state capital funds over the next three years for the
bike trail project and is trying to drum up legislative support for the request.

Kearney and Driehaus stopped short Monday of promising any funding. But both
were impressed - and a bit surprised - by what they saw. Neither realized that a
waterway with such promise was running right through their districts' backyards.

"This is such a great natural asset," Driehaus said. "You can't recreate this.
We need to take advantage of it."

The non-profit Mill Creek Restoration Project hopes to turn the Mill Creek
Corridor, once considered a polluted eyesore, into a haven for bicyclists, river
enthousiasts and wildlife.

Immediate plans call for raising $6.15 million to build the Queen City-South
Mill Creek Greenway Trail, a 3.4 mile section of bike trail from Salway Park in
Spring Grove Village to the Mill Creek Road bridge in South Cumminsville. So far
0.6 miles of the segment have been built. Funding is secured for another 0.9
miles. Other funding requests are pending.

The trail will eventually be expanded to 13.5 miles from the Hamilton County
Fairgrounds in Carthage to the Cincinnati riverfront. The ultimate vision for
the urban corridor is to extend the bike trail north into Butler County's
Liberty Township where the head of the Mill Creek lies. It could then become an
express route for bicyclists traveling from Butler County to downtown Cincinnati
and could be an economic engine for the many neighborhoods along it, many of
which are struggling.

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