The long-awaited final link in a set of walking/biking trails that run 326 miles from Cincinnati to Cleveland is now in place. Featuring a tunnel, an underpass, and a bridge, the Beechmont Connector opened September 21. Locally, it provides access to short trails in Armleder Park and around Lunken Airport, with connections to the longer Ohio River Trail and the Little Miami Scenic Trail.

The main part of the Connector is a 500-foot-long bridge over the Little Miami River that features two scenic turnouts, a generous 14-foot-wide pedestrian/bike path, and a concrete barrier separating the trail from traffic on the adjoining Beechmont Bridge. Bicycle unfriendly design flaws include metal caps protruding from the center of the trail at both ends of the bridge, and a 350-degree switchback to access Armleder Park for riders coming from the north.

Years in the making, this $7.9 million project resulted from the cooperation of the Ohio Department of Transportation, Great Parks of Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati, and Anderson Township.

Nearby trailheads can be found in the Magrish Preserve off of Salem Road, at various points on Wilmer Avenue, in Armleder Park and Clear Creek Park, and near the intersection of Route 32 and Beechmont Avenue.

The Little Miami State Park trail is used by over 2 million visitors a year, according to a recent trail-counting survey. That count includes bikers, runners and walkers, including dog walkers. However, those trail counters are probably missing our other four-legged trail users and their riders since they don’t trip the trail counters. The trail is popular with many horse riders given its proximity to Derbyshire Stables near Camp Dennison and the horse trailhead at Galbraith Road.

While watching a group of riders pass by recently, the benefit of trail maintenance to horse riders was obvious. Keeping the brush cut back and the overhead branches trimmed on the wide side of the trail is important to give riders both head clearance and safe trail width to ride.

The Miamiville Trailyard restaurant welcomes these other trail users with a horse feeding station and tie-up next to their bike racks (photo, right).

Editor's Note: See Erick Wikum’s article on sharing the trail with horses.

My typical column provides tips to address a specific safety concern you may encounter when using the Little Miami Scenic Trail. In this month’s column, I would like to provide you with a tool you can use to determine which of the many, many potential safety issues deserve your attention.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) provides a step-by-step method for identifying, analyzing, and preventing or mitigating potential failure modes. FMEA includes the following steps:

To understand FMEA better, consider the following list of potential failure modes and corresponding effects.

Fresh to Morrow is here today right along the trail in downtown Morrow, at the corner of Main and Miranda Streets. Owned by Ryan and Megan Doan, the small farm-to-table café offers favorite healthy American fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as a fresh-vegetable shop. All vegetables are locally grown without chemicals, most from the Doan’s own farmland they lease from nearby Camp Kern. Baked goods are supplied by a local baker. Pork and beef are from pasture-raised stock supplied by a farm in Greenfield, Ohio.

Formerly urban farmers who ran the Urban Greens vegetable co-op in Cincinnati for ten years, Ryan and Megan Doan moved to Morrow in 2018. This year they purchased the building that used to be Mom’s Antiques, and it now houses their industrial kitchen, café, and small store.

Fresh to Morrow welcomes trail users with a bicycle rack out front and quick, healthy snacks such as homemade apple pie rollups, smoothies, and apple chips. You can view their full menu, photos, and other information on their Facebook page.

121 Main St., Morrow, OH 45152

513-899-7439

Open Fridays and Saturdays 9-8, Sundays 10-2