About

A kayaker paddles on the Great Miami River with a bridge seen ahead. Trees line the banks

What Is the Great Miami Riverway?

The Great Miami Riverway is southwest Ohio's river corridor destination — 99-plus miles of connected riverfront communities, paved trails, and water access built around the Great Miami River. You can surf the river, cycle the trail, paddle between towns, or simply find your way through one of the historic downtowns. Whatever brings you here, the river runs through all of it.

The Riverway is a program of the Miami Conservancy District, guided by a coalition of local communities across Shelby, Miami, Montgomery, Warren, and Butler counties in southwest Ohio.

What Makes the Riverway Distinct

99-plus miles of paved, off-street trail. The Great Miami River Recreation Trail is part of the nation's largest paved trail network — more than 300 miles of off-street trails in the Dayton region alone.

Ohio's first National Water Trail. The Great Miami River was designated a National Water Trail by the U.S. Department of the Interior, recognizing the quality of its water access, paddling conditions, and the infrastructure along its banks.

11 nationally recognized experiences. From a top-10 steakhouse to a top-10 bourbon bar to one of the American Planning Association's Great Public Spaces in America, the Riverway corridor includes destinations that earn recognition far beyond the region.

12 riverfront communities. Sidney, Piqua, Troy, Tipp City, West Carrollton, Miamisburg, Franklin, Middletown, Trenton, Monroe, Hamilton, and Fairfield each offer direct river and trail access alongside their own historic downtowns, public art, and local food and drink scene.

Our Mission

The Great Miami Riverway builds a strong, vibrant network of communities — connected by 99 miles of river — by increasing economic and community investment to attract visitors, customers, jobs, and talented workers to southwest Ohio. The program works to:

  • Increase use of the corridor's recreational, historical, and cultural assets
  • Attract more visitors to the region
  • Support economic development in riverfront communities
  • Strengthen river corridor neighborhoods

History of the Great Miami Riverway

2008: The Summit. The Miami Conservancy District and the University of Dayton co-hosted the first Great Miami River Summit on the UD campus. About 100 community leaders came together to explore how the river could serve as an economic driver, a unifying force, and a regional competitive advantage. From that gathering, a volunteer group, Ohio's Great Corridor Association, began developing river-related opportunities across the corridor.

2012-2014: The Study. The Montgomery County Commissioners and MCD commissioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a river corridor study. Released in 2014, it was the largest river corridor asset inventory the Army Corps had ever performed. Its key finding: the corridor had an enormous and largely untapped wealth of assets — parks, trails, events, historic sites, and riverfront infrastructure — that could be far more powerful with a unified identity and coordinated promotion. Download it here. 

2017: The Riverway Launches. At the request of the river corridor communities, MCD officially launched the Great Miami Riverway program under its River Corridor Improvement Subdistrict with 19 riverfront communities and organizations. The coalition has since grown to 23 members across five counties.

Today. The Riverway coalition has attracted more than $500 million in riverfront investment over the past decade, and the program continues to grow, adding new communities, new trail connections, and new programming each year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Great Miami Riverway?

The Great Miami Riverway is a regional travel and tourism destination in southwest Ohio built around the Great Miami River. It connects 10 riverfront communities with 99-plus miles of paved off-street trail and a National Water Trail for paddling, and it's coordinated by the Miami Conservancy District.

Where is the Great Miami Riverway?

The Riverway runs along the Great Miami River through southwest Ohio, from Sidney in Shelby County south to Hamilton in Butler County — passing through Miami, Montgomery, and Warren counties along the way. It sits between Dayton and Cincinnati, roughly 45 minutes from each.

Who manages the Great Miami Riverway?

The Riverway is a program of the Miami Conservancy District (MCD), a regional flood protection and water resources authority based in Dayton, Ohio. It is guided by a coalition of local riverfront communities and partner organizations.

How long is the Great Miami River Recreation Trail?

The Great Miami River Recreation Trail is 99-plus miles of paved, off-street trail running from Sidney to Hamilton. It is part of a broader network of more than 300 miles of paved off-street trails in the Dayton region — the largest such network in the nation.

Is the Great Miami River a National Water Trail?

Yes. The Great Miami River is Ohio's first designated National Water Trail, recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior for the quality of its water access, paddling conditions, and riverside amenities.

When was the Great Miami Riverway founded?

The Riverway program was officially launched in 2017 by the Miami Conservancy District. It grew out of a 2008 regional summit and a 2014 Army Corps of Engineers corridor study that provided the foundation for a unified identity and coordinated development strategy.

 

Awards

OPRA Award of Excellence (2025)

Announced Nov. 26, 2025 by the Ohio Park and Recreation Association — first place for the 18th Annual Great Miami Riverway Summit, held May 2, 2025 in Miamisburg's Riverfront Park. The Summit drew hundreds of leaders from cities, counties, and park districts along the corridor, and showcased "community as venue" programming, with more than 2,000 community members engaging with ORSANCO's traveling aquarium. Since the Riverway's 2017 launch, the corridor has seen a 55% increase in tourism, $1.2 billion in annual visitor spending, 11,000 jobs supported, and $140 million in tax revenue, per an Oxford Economics study. The award was formally presented Feb. 3, 2026 at the OPRA Conference in Sandusky, where it was also in the running for the Governor's Award (best-in-show).

RUBY Award (2021)

Presented Oct. 7, 2021 at the Ohio Conference on Tourism (Cherry Valley Hotel, Newark, Ohio) by the Ohio Travel Association. The Riverway won two honors: a RUBY Award for Innovation in Travel Marketing for its new mobile app, and a Certificate of Excellence for its blog post "10 Things to do Along the Great Miami Riverway." The RUBY Awards recognize excellence in Ohio's hospitality and tourism industry for advertising, marketing, and public relations, and that year drew 177 entries across 17 categories, judged by nine marketing professionals from academia, consulting firms, and ad agencies.

Ohio Magazine Readers' Poll (2020) 
Ohio Magazine announced the Great Miami River Bike Trail was voted "Best Bike Trail in Ohio" by Ohio Magazine readers, and the Riverway purchased an advertisement in the January issue to promote the award.

IEDC Award (2019)

In 2019, the Great Miami Riverway Coalition earned national recognition from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), receiving the Silver Award for Excellence in Economic Development, Regionalism & Cross-Border Collaboration. The honor celebrated the Riverway's success in uniting communities across a 99-mile stretch of southwest Ohio through a shared vision — using the Great Miami River to drive tourism, attract investment, and strengthen quality of life across the region. It stands as a testament to what regional collaboration can achieve when communities find their way together.

RUBY Awards (2019)

The Ohio Travel Association recognized the Great Miami Riverway at their annual conference on October 17, 2019 by awarding it a RUBY (Recognizing Uncommon Brilliance Yearly) Award for Print Advertising for the Riverway Ad featured on the inside cover of the Destination Dayton magazine. The winning entry was "There's more than one way to fly in Dayton" print ad (the one placed on the inside front cover of the Dayton Visitors Guide/Destination Dayton magazine.

RUBY Awards (2018 )

In September 2018, the Great Miami Riverway was awarded the 'Innovation in Travel Marketing' RUBY Award for the Riverway Podcast from the Ohio Travel Association. The Ohio Travel Association recognizes and rewards outstanding artistry in the field of travel marketing and advertising at the annual Ohio's Conference on Travel.

National Water Trail Designation, U.S. Department of the Interior (2016)
Announced June 2016 by Secretary Sally Jewell — the Great Miami Watershed Water Trail (Great Miami, Stillwater, and Mad rivers, plus Buck, Greenville, and Twin creeks) was named a National Water Trail, the first and only one in Ohio and one of just 22 in the U.S., jointly administered by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service.