42-mile cycling 'super highway' in Cincinnati announced

[Garrison Hilliard]

42-mile cycling 'super highway' in Cincinnati announced


Carrie Blackmore Smith, csm...@enquirer.com 6:47 p.m. EST December
16, 2015



Robin Corathers hopes Cincinnati Connects, a plan for a 42-mile
continuous "super highway" trail, becomes reality in her lifetime.

"And I'm getting old, folks," Corathers joked to a roomful of trail,
health and environmental advocates from around Cincinnati and Hamilton
County, as they sipped their coffee at Coffee Emporium In
Over-the-Rhine at the plan's announcement Wednesday.

It's the first time an uninterrupted loop trail around Cincinnati has
ever been proposed, Corathers said, and it won't come cheap or easy.

It will take commitment and a dogged search for funding from people
all around town, she said.

But building the trail, which would run through 32 of Cincinnati's 52
neighborhoods, would be worth it, said Corathers, whose organization
Groundwork Cincinnati has been leading the Cincinnati Connects effort.

"We want people of all ages and abilities, income levels, throughout
the city, to be able to get on the trail and travel through the entire
city of Cincinnati without a vehicle," Corathers said.

It's about transportation alternatives, health and economic vitality;
about connecting people to job centers, supermarkets and recreation,
Corathers said.

This trail would act as a "skeleton" for connecting to other trails in
Hamilton County and beyond. It calls for connecting four trails that
have been in the works for years: the Oasis Trail, Wasson Way, Mill
Creek Greenway and Ohio River Trail West, all in different stages –
mostly early – of completion.

A map representing Cincinnati Connects, the vision of a 42-mile loop
trail around Cincinnati and connecting to existing trails in Hamilton
County. (Photo: Provided)


Click or tap here for a full size version of the map above.

The organizations have been searching for funding for years for their
trails.

They know disappointment, including the recent failure of a Cincinnati
Parks levy, which likely would have funded the four trail groups.

But Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune said now that area
governments and trail and health organizations are collaborating and
have a road map, Cincinnati Connects should get traction for state or
federal funding.

As chair of Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District,
Portune said the district will support the project in an application
next year for state funding from the Ohio Department of
Transportation.

"What benefits the city, benefits the county," said Portune, who is
also a past president of OKI Regional Council of Governments. "This
issue of connected trails is being embraced all through Hamilton
County. Small city mayors, township trustees, village administrators,
you name it.

"I know that because I've been out there meeting with them all," the
commissioner said.

Without investing in trails the region misses out, Portune said.

He finds building the trail "very important; as we compete for
businesses, as we compete for new investment, and, importantly, as we
compete for people," Portune said. That depends on "where people want
to settle. Where they want to live. Where they want to raise a family.
Where they want to be for the rest of their lives."

Portune said we do not rank well compared to peer metropolitan areas
with which Cincinnati and Hamilton County competes.

The plan, not including the four long-planned trails, is estimated to
cost $21 million, Corathers said.

"This is not a pipe dream," Corathers said. The roughly 250-page
report includes preliminary designs, route options along with
cost/benefis analyses, paid for with a $186,000 grant from Interact
for Health.

"This is step one," Corathers said.

Step two is finding the money from both public and private sources,
Corathers said.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/12/16/cincinnati-bike-loop-connection-trails/77421080/

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[Garrison Hilliard]

Madisonville, Wasson Way poised for big economic boost

CINCINNATI – Multi-million dollar plans to remake Madisonville’s
business district and build the Wasson Way bike trail on Cincinnati’s
East End stand to get a big boost under Mayor John Cranley’s proposed
two-year budget.

The proposed investments – valued at nearly $16 million collectively
-- are among roughly $35 million in spending outlined in Cranley’s
budget plan, which he’s unveiling during a series of events this week.

WCPO was offered an early look at the proposal and the projects, which
span Avondale, Bond Hill, College Hill, Madisonville, North Avondale,
Roselawn, West Price Hill and Westwood. On Monday, Cranley outlined
plans for $10 million in projects and investment in College Hill,
Westwood and West Price Hill. Another $5.2 million would go toward
remaking the Avondale Towne Center and luring redevelopment work to
Roselawn and Bond Hill under efforts announced Tuesday.

“The vast majority of these projects have been on the planning table
for a long time, but they lacked resources to get them done,” Cranley
said.

“Waiting a Long Time for This”

On Wednesday morning, Cranley is expected to join Madisonville leaders
and planners behind the Wasson Way trail to offer details on the
proposed investments carved out in his budget plans.

In Madisonville, new retail space, office space and at least 300
apartments are planned under a proposed redevelopment agreement
between the Ackerman Group and the city.

For more than a decade the city has worked to acquire abandoned and
decaying properties at the corner of Madison and Whetsel roads in the
hopes of one day reviving the neighborhood’s struggling business
district.


http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/madisonville-wasson-way-poised-for-big-boost