Cincinnati residents can now weigh in on how a planned trail connecting downtown Cincinnati to the Lunken Airport area will look and function.
Great Parks and the City of Cincinnati have launched a virtual open house for the Oasis Trail, seeking public feedback on several trail design and access options. The virtual open house is available online through Oct. 23.
An in-person open house is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Sept. 23 at T.M. Berry International Friendship Park in Cincinnati’s East End neighborhood. The information will be the same at both open houses.
“The public is asking Great Parks to build more trails, and few trails have captured the public’s imagination as much as the Oasis Trail,” Great Parks CEO Todd Palmeter said. “Great Parks is eager for this public dialogue as we develop the details of how this generational trail project will connect downtown Cincinnati to our growing local, regional and statewide trail networks.”
The trail
The planned paved, separated trail would connect Sawyer Point downtown with the Lunken Airport area and eventually link to regional and state trail networks. It would be open to bicyclists as well as walkers, runners and other nonmotorized users.
The trail would replace the northern track of the Oasis Rail Line, which runs between Columbia Parkway and Riverside Drive.
The project also would close a gap in the 34-mile Cincinnati Riding Or Walking Network, or CROWN, and complete an arm of the Ohio River Trail. The Ohio River Trail connects with the 326-mile Ohio to Erie Trail, which runs between Cincinnati and Cleveland.
The funding
The project’s current design and construction cost is estimated at more than $19 million.
Great Parks received an $8 million Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments in 2024 for the first phase of construction. It received another $6 million CMAQ grant in December 2025 for the second phase.
Other funding includes $3 million from Metro for railroad easement acquisition, $2.75 million in private funding from CROWN and $5 million in Ohio Department of Transportation grants for land acquisition.
Great Parks has committed $1.5 million toward design and is seeking another $2 million for remaining design and construction costs. The agency also is working with Metro and the city to secure funding for land acquisition.
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