walking the Wasson Way

A group a passionate individuals have formed the group Wasson Way Project to provide grass roots leadership in organizing and promoting the Wasson Way bike hike trail that will eventually run from Xavier University to the Little Miami Bike Trail in Newtown. Last November the project received a $500,000 grant from the “Clean Ohio Trails” Fund administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. This money will be used will be used for construction of Tamarack Ave (near I-71) to Madison Rd. Saturday a walk was held to take a look at route and to try and imagine the potential it has to change the neighborhoods around it. At its western terminus, near Xavier is a rail yard spanning 9 acres which is one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land in the city. Most of the land is in Norwood, turns out the border of Cincinnati and Norwood runs down the middle of the main line. But to give credit to Norwood leaders who have shown vision and rezoned the land PUD. A planned unit development requires approval from city council for any development project. The intent of this zoning is to ensure and development is appropriate to the bike path. Norwood envisions mixed use buildings going up; retail, apartments and maybe office.
The rail line as it stands today is heavily overgrown, but you can see its appeal. The Wasson Way Project envisions the trail at 14' wide, they'd like a pedestrian lane and two bike lanes. Anyone who has biked to Loveland can see the logic in this plan.
All that is needed now is for the city to buy the right of way and dedicate money to getting this first phase built.

IMG_1598
Wasson Way phase 1
Wasson Way phase 1
IMG_1590
IMG_1594
Wasson Way phase 1
IMG_1553
IMG_1582
IMG_1559
Wasson Way phase 1
Wasson Way phase 1
IMG_1597
[where: 45202] best place to learn how to live downtown cincinnati ohio the ethos of Cincinnati
comments?

1 comment:

  1. I love the idea of Wasson Way. Have you heard a viable solution yet to how it crosses Madison? The area near the crossing is already a disaster...Madison at Edwards is a mess, and the Madison entrance to Rookwood can really turn the whole thing into a car accident waiting to happen. I don't think you could add a light there (it's too close to Edwards) and have heard ideas ranging from pedestrian bridge to underground tunnel, but those all seem really cost prohibitive.

    ReplyDelete