CINCINNATI – Construction on the next phases of Wasson Way trail begins Wednesday, April 28. Crews will start by clearing downed trees and brush in a section of trail in the northeastern edge of Mt. Lookout’s Ault Park.

The current work includes phases four and five, which will extend nearly 1.5 miles from the Marburg Avenue Bridge in Hyde Park to Old Red Bank Road in Fairfax. The trail travels over a former rail line to a railroad bridge in Ault Park, through a wooded stretch of switchbacks in the park to an existing trail known as Red Bank Trail in Fairfax.
 
The map below shows the location. 
 
In total, Wasson Way trail will cover approximately five miles and touch the neighborhoods of Avondale, Walnut Hills, Evanston, Hyde Park, Oakley, Mt. Lookout and Fairfax. It has been built in phases beginning in 2017 and includes a stretch over Interstate 71. There are a total of seven phases planned and funded.
 
Phase four begins at the Marburg Avenue Bridge and extends straight along the former rail line to the railroad bridge in the park. This phase will be finished and opened to the public by late August. Most of phase five, which begins at the railroad bridge and winds through the switchbacks, is scheduled to be finished in late November.  
 
Please note: For safety reasons, public access to this section of the Wasson Way trail will be prohibited during construction, beginning April 28. In addition, the northeast corner of Ault Park, including that portion of the Valley Trail footpath, will be closed until the Wasson trail work and bridge upgrades are fully complete in the fall of 2022.  
 
Barricades and trail closed signs will be posted at the site. 
 
As part of the $3.6 million project, crews this year will replace the concrete deck of the railroad bridge as well as rehabilitate the piers, steel beams and concrete portions of the structure. Crews will paint the bridge in the summer of 2022 and restore the greenspace along the contractor’s temporary access road, which will include planting new trees in Ault Park that fall.
 
Work includes construction of the trail along the switchbacks, installation of multiple retaining walls and steps from the railroad bridge to a natural surface trail. A short stretch outside Ault Park will travel along Old Red Bank Road and connect to the existing Red Bank Trail. It will be designated by pavement markings and signs.   
 
The project is receiving significant funding from a federal Surface Transportation Block Grant awarded by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments as well as funding from a Clean Ohio Trail Fund grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Prus Construction is the contractor.

Construction of the sixth and seventh phases of Wasson Way is expected to begin in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Those phases will extend 1.5 miles from Woodburn Avenue to Martin Luther King Junior Drive in Avondale.

Read more about the trail.