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Print Friendly MapThe growing Mill Creek Greenway Trail follows one of Cincinnati’s most important urban waterways and will one day stretch 14 miles through the city's northern neighborhoods. Groundwork Cincinnati is a community-based nonprofit that works to develop the trail and maintain it.
Currently, the trail is open in two short, disconnected segments. The southern section is nearly 2 miles long through mostly light industrial development. A highlight of the route is Salway Park, which boasts some excellent habitat restoration projects as well as a superb public art installation. Farther northeast, another mile of trail reaches Caldwell Park. Both sections are paved.
To reach the two Salway Park trailheads from Interstate 75, take the Mitchell Avenue exit. Go north on Mitchell toward Spring Grove Avenue. Take a left on Spring Grove Avenue. The first trailhead is just over 0.5 mile on the left. The second trailhead is only another 0.3 mile farther on the left.
Parking is also available on the north end of the trail in Caldwell Park (415 W. North Bend Road).
I rode the trail in late October. In the northern section, much dead brush, grass and limbs were on the windy path that went through the wooded area. Some tree roots were pushing up the asphalt and much of fence that separated the trail from the businesses was broken. After I crossed the street, I saw more trash on the southern part. The trail ended at the bottom of the stairs that led to the street. It was Autumn so I expected leaves and such, but the trash needs to get removed. Hopefully a work day to clean up the brush and trash is being planned, since it sure needed it.
Not bad of a trail for a short ride or a stroll, if it could be kept up better. Probably like most trails, time, workers, volunteers, and money are in short supply.
The southern section is fine along Mill Creek and Salway Park. It then seemed to dead end at a fence by a business but where the red line on TrailLink said the trail was located and should continue. The red line needs to move to the sidewalk along William P Dooley Bypass/Spring Grove Ave. I crossed that road about 2:45, just biking fast when I saw a break in traffic. It would be better to have a cross walk signal of some sort. At rush hour it would be terrible in my opinion. There was only about 3/10's (guessing) on the other side of the road until the trail ended. This 2-mile or so trail was kept up better than the northern section. Any trail is better than none, so it is good for the area.
Like most urban trails the two parts of the Mill Creek Greenway seemed to have started out well when new, but succumbed to neglect and lack of planning and resources. The northern section was the worse of the two. Signs have been tagged with graffiti and plants and shrubs along the trail need to be cut back in spots. The southern section was in better shape as the Salway Park was not as isolated as the Caldwell Playground Park in the northern section. Both sections suffered from a lack of directional signage as it was not clear that the path picked up on the other side of a bridge over Mill Creek in the north section and in the south the trail seems to dead end into a commercial building but continued on the other side of that building.
If you lived in these Cincinnati neighborhoods checking out and riding this trail may be worthwhile if you live nearby. Otherwise don't go out of your way. It is hard to see the gap between the two sections being bridged by additional trail considering that the trail runs along the creek and much of the break in between the two sections is filled with commercial and industrial properties that are unlikely to give an easement to connect both parts to each other.
The bike trail itself was fine for my wife and myself since we are both relatively new at cycling off road. Not overly challenging, but simple to master. Our biggest concern was the physical conditioning of the grounds that directly abutted the trail. High grasses, dandelions, weeds, overflowing trash receptacles, broken glass are just a few examples of what we saw as a lack of routine grounds care and/or maintenance.
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