Hike-bike trail building starts this summer - Cincinnati, Ohio suburbs

Hike-bike trail building starts this summer
BY WILLIAM A. WEATHERS |


WYOMING - In the discussion stages since 1991, the city's hike-bike trail
should become a reality this fall.

"Construction will start in late summer," City Manager Robert Harrison said
of Phase 1 of the hike-bike path.

The approximately three-quarters-of-a-mile paved trail would run from the
intersection of North and Park avenues north to the Wyoming Recreation
Center. The recreation center is at 9940 Springfield Pike, just outside the
city limits in the neighboring village of Woodlawn.


"The only way you can get to the recreation center now is on Springfield
Pike," Harrison said. "This allows a second corridor to the recreation
center."

The trail roughly parallels the Mill Creek just west of the Wyoming/Lincoln
Heights border. It will provide walkers, hikers, runners and bikers a motor
vehicle-free path to the recreation center.

"You can bike there safely rather than go down Springfield Pike," said Bill
Johnson, chairman of the city's Greenways Committee, which spearheaded the
hike/bike trail project.

Cost, determining the exact route, and residents' concerns about route all
played a part in prolonging the project.

A recent $480,000 grant from the Clean Ohio Fund is covering about 75
percent of the estimated $650,000 project cost, and the city is picking up
the remaining 25 percent, Harrison said.

Additional planning was necessary because the trail route crosses over the
Mill Creek twice, the city manager said.

"Residents were concerned about the route," Johnson said. "There was some
controversy."

At one public hearing in 2002, some residents expressed concerns about
property values and quality of life issues.

"In the end no one could propose an alternative route," Johnson said. "In
the end, we had the support of council and the majority of the community."

The future Phase 2 of hike/bike trail is proposed from the North and Park
avenues intersection south to the city municipal building at 800 Oak Ave.

City officials believe its hike/bike trail will eventually connect with
other area trails.

"I think long term it will be the starting point for traveling quite a way
up through Winton Woods (in neighboring Springfield Township)," Mayor Barry
Porter said.

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