Separate Facilities (Shared Use Paths)

Separate facilities refer to bike paths and/or multi-purpose trails that are separate from the road and for the exclusive use of bicyclists, walkers, joggers, roller-bladers, wheelchair-users, and other non-motorized vehicles. Shared use trails are 10' to 12' in width with 2' shoulders or clear space on each side.

A shared use trail system is being developed in the OKI region. This system of exclusive bicycle/pedestrian facilities is also shown on the "Regional Bicycle Corridors" map, with estimated miles within each state in the OKI region.

In the four Ohio Counties, work is either completed or underway on several important bike paths including the Little Miami Scenic Trail; the Lebanon and Mason Connections; the Great Miami Trail; Shaker Trace (in Miami Whitewater Forest); the Lunken Airport Bike Path; the Indiana & Ohio Corridor (in Western Hamilton County); the Mill Creek Greenway; and the Ohio River Trail. On the map, the "shared roadways" in Ohio offer connections for bicycling between trails.

The Little Miami Scenic State Park includes a bike path which follows an abandoned rail corridor approximately 50 miles from Kroger Hills State Reserve in eastern Hamilton County, through Clermont and Warren Counties, to Hedges Road in Greene County. North of the OKI region, this trail continues for an additional thirty miles to Xenia, Yellow Springs and Springfield. In Springfield, it is continued to Urbana as the Simon Kenton Trail. In Xenia, it joins the Creekside Trail (formerly the H Connector) between the Little Miami Scenic Trail and the Great Miami Trail (also called the River Bikeway) in the Dayton area. The Little Miami Scenic Trail is paved with asphalt for all of its length and attracts nearly 200,000 users annually. Construction has begun to pave the trail south from Milford to Anderson Township’s Clear Creek Park and eventually connect to the Lunken Bike Path and the Ohio River Trail to Cincinnati's Central Riverfront.

The Ohio River Trail has several organizations promoting the development of the facility. The Ohio River Trail Planning Committee has prepared a feasibility study for a fourteen mile trail between New Richmond and Lunken Airport in Cincinnati. Additional environmental review and engineering analyses have been done in preparation for initiating local applications for construction funding. The City of Cincinnati is also active in the eight miles from Lunken to downtown with sections built in Friendship Park and Schmidt Field and other segments along the river shore in various stages of work.

The Great Miami River Trail (The Great Connection) is actively under development through projects in several communities. The section in Hamilton was recently extended south by Fairfield for a total of five miles. It will soon be extended north to Rentschler Preserve with private funding. Middletown has built around three miles of the trail and the Miami Conservancy District is the lead agency for the section through Franklin. Once completed, these Butler and Warren County sections of the trail will connect with Dayton’s River Bikeway.

In Indiana, development of the Dearborn Trails network connecting Lawrenceburg, Greendale, and Aurora is underway. Lawrenceburg has received Transportation Enhancement funds for their riverwalk/bikeway. Greendale also received Transportation Enhancement funds for a bike path on the levee that will connect to the Lawrenceburg trail. Aurora has received funding and broken ground for a four mile trail extension of the Riverwalk from Lawrenceburg, along an abandoned rail right-of-way, through Aurora. Construction of the Aurora-Lawrenceburg Trail will be completed in 2006.