Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI) hosted a virtual Uptown Insights event on July 13 that was all about The CROWN network, the Cincinnati Riding or Walking Network. When completed, it will form a 34-mile urban trail loop in Cincinnati.
The CROWN will be made up of six connected trails: Wasson Way, the Little Miami Scenic Trail, the Lunken Trail, the Ohio River Trail, the Mill Creek Greenway Trail and the Canal Bikeway. The Wasson Way is the section of the CROWN that will connect to the Uptown neighborhoods.
Experts joined UCI’s President and CEO, Beth Robinson, to share more about how this walkable, bikeable loop will provide a safe and accessible option for all Cincinnatians to gather and be active outdoors in Uptown.
“Our Uptown Insights webinar provided a forum to share more about the benefits of the trail network and the importance of the connection to Uptown,” said Robinson, who moderated the discussion. “All Cincinnati communities, regardless of their situational or economic characteristics, could and will benefit from the ease of access to healthy activities the CROWN will provide in Uptown, specifically the Avondale neighborhood.”
Uptown partners, businesses, organizations, residents, and community members attended the free session. UCI invited the following experts and Avondale community leaders to participate:
Wade Johnston, Director of Tri-State Trails, an initiative of Green Umbrella.
Sean McGrory, Board President of Wasson Way.
Russell Hairston, Executive Director of Avondale Development Corporation.
Each expert introduced their background and role; the following are highlights from the session.
Wade Johnston, Tri-State Trails
Wade Johnston is an avid commuter cyclist and outdoor enthusiast. Under Wade's leadership, Tri-State Trails has grown from a grassroots coalition to the leading advocacy organization for active transportation issues in Greater Cincinnati.
Johnston shared the vision of the CROWN Network: to create a 34-mile loop around the city of Cincinnati that will link four major trails in development. He provided an overview of where the CROWN Network is in development, planning and design and showed two maps: a macro-view of the trail and a micro-view of how it will connect to Uptown, which is the next phase. “This is exciting for Uptown and our whole region--the connection to Uptown and to Avondale, and further into Evanston, staging a connection to Walnut Hills,” Johnston shared.
“This will connect a heavily used trail corridor to our region's second largest employment hub. So, all the folks who live along the trail corridor can safely bike or walk to Uptown where all the jobs are.”
Sean McGrory, Wasson Way
Sean McGrory is the Board President of Wasson Way, an organization promoting and developing the Wasson Way urban greenway trail connecting several neighborhoods and communities in eastern Cincinnati. McGrory also serves on the Leadership Team of CROWN.
McGrory shared how the next phase of Wasson Way, which will connect from Evanston to Avondale, is in the design phase and construction is scheduled to begin early next year. “It’s going to extend what this trail network really has been all about, which is connecting communities and connecting people,” McGrory shared.
He also touched on the tremendous collaboration—a public-private partnership effort—that has brought the project to life. “We're building on that momentum to go all the way to MLK and Reading Road and then take it even further from there,” he said.
Russell Hairston, Avondale Development Corporation
Russell Hairston is responsible for administration, fundraising and sustainability development for the Avondale Development Corporation. He has more than 25 years of experience developing and implementing high-impact, award-winning strategies to improve urban neighborhoods.
Hairston touched on the Avondale Quality of Life Plan (and the focus areas of increasing safety, sharing success, strengthening partnerships between the communities and the institutions, and improving housing) and how the trail is important because of the connectivity it will bring, and economic development that can grow from it.
“It is a great economic opportunity, connecting these neighborhoods to where we can expand our housing and our economic development opportunities, to where we can have public-private partnerships with the other neighborhoods and where we can improve the overall health of Avondale, which is of utmost importance to us,” Hairston said.
“It starts by being a welcoming community, partnering with the adjacent communities, and growing with the Wasson Way Trail so that our kids, as well as our seniors, take full advantage of it, and it becomes a way of life.”
After the experts provided introductions, Robinson led the experts through a series of questions about access points along the trail, what people can expect once it’s open through Uptown and why the connection is so important for residents, employees, students and visitors.
Click HERE to view the entire program.
Here is the contact information for the experts.
Russell Hairston: rhairston@growavondale.org
Wade Johnston: wade@tristatetrails.org
Sean McGrory: smcgrory@cshco.com
Here are ways to get involved:
Donate to CROWN here.
Tri-State Trails is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year with a gala to celebrate.