The Great Miami Riverway is regional travel and tourism destination in southwest Ohio that includes more than 99 miles of paved trails and connected communities.
A program of the Miami Conservancy District, the Great Miami Riverway is guided by a Coalition of local communities. The mission of the the Great Miami Riverway is building a strong, vibrant network of communities, connected by 99 miles of river, by increasing economic and community investment to attract more visitors, customers, jobs, and talented workers to southwest Ohio. The goal of the Great Miami Riverway program is to develop and implement ongoing marketing, planning, and programming to:
- Increase use of recreational, historical, and cultural assets,
- Attract more visitors,
- Support economic development,
- Strengthen river corridor neighborhoods
Since 2017, the Miami Conservany District has published a series of activities reports tracking its progress connecting eleven communities along the Great Miami River in Southwest Ohio. From the coalition's founding and brand launch (2017–2019), through a pandemic-era pivot to digital engagement and safety planning (2019–2021), to a recent wave of major riverfront investment and trail expansion (2021–2024), these reports document how a regional partnership turned 99 miles of river into a shared destination for recreation, tourism, and economic growth. Browse the reports below to see the Riverway's full story.
FLIPBOOK - Great Miami Riverway Impact Report 2022-2024
History
The Miami Conservancy District and the University of Dayton (UD) co-hosted the first Great Miami River Summit on the UD campus in 2008. The goals of the Summit were to develop a set of recommendations to stimulate river corridor investments in the cities; to share plans for riverfront development and to explore opportunities to leverage individual projects into a collective power; to discuss and explore their shared interests in successful cities and farmland preservation; and for Great Miami River stakeholders to begin to develop a shared vision of the river as an economic driver, unifying force, and competitive advantage for the region. Approximately one hundred community leaders participated which led to a volunteer group, the Ohio’s Great Corridor Association, who worked on river-related opportunities.
In 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was commissioned by the Montgomery County Commissioners and MCD to perform a study of the river corridor. The study, released in 2014, was the largest river corridor asset inventory ever conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The key result: the creation of a unified identity for the river corridor to be used to promote the wide variety and enormous wealth of assets including places and events.
In 2017, at the request of the river corridor communities, MCD has led the Riverway program under its River Corridor Improvement Subdistrict with more than 20 riverfront communities and organizations.
