Cincinnati and Hamilton County just landed a $25 million federal award to push forward a long-discussed highway cap over Fort Washington Way between Vine and Walnut streets, a move local leaders have been chasing for years. The money is slated for design and early construction of an approximately 1.2-acre deck and public plaza that would span the eight-lane trench carrying I-71/U.S. 50, reconnecting The Banks with the central business district and turning a noisy gap into usable civic space.
Ohio Sen. Jon Husted confirmed the Fort Washington Way project will receive $25 million, according to WCPO. As WCPO reports, the funded scope targets the stretch of roadway between Vine and Walnut and would create a public plaza intended to cut highway noise and strengthen pedestrian connections between downtown and the riverfront. City and county leaders had been pressing federal officials for support for months while fine-tuning the design and the grant application.
The larger, multi-phase vision for Fort Washington Way has been pegged at roughly $187 million, with firms such as KZF Design and WSP helping develop concepts for a multi-block lid, according to earlier reporting by the Cincinnati Business Courier. That reporting emphasizes that this initial, federally backed piece is a smaller, catalytic portion of the broader plan, meant to open the door to future development on newly created land. Supporters argue the cap would generate fresh, buildable space and reconnect neighborhoods long separated by the highway trench.
The application for federal funding includes a required local match, and leaders note that U.S. transportation officials must finalize a grant agreement before any construction can start, as reported by WLWT. WLWT previously reported that the project team expects design and early construction to begin next year and that the first phase could wrap up by fall 2029 if schedules stay on track. Officials now say they are turning to the work of lining up matching dollars and moving the engineering from concept sketches to construction-ready plans.
“This federal funding opportunity represents a once-in-a-generation chance to reconnect our downtown, create new public green space and continue the momentum at The Banks,” Hamilton County Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas said, WCPO reported. Mayor Aftab Pureval called the award “a huge milestone” on social media, thanking federal partners, the county and the Cincinnati Regional Chamber for helping push the initiative across this latest finish line.
Backers say a lid in this location would dampen highway noise, knit downtown and the riverfront back together and create flexible public space for festivals, events and everyday park use, benefits highlighted in earlier coverage by the Cincinnati Business Courier. Skeptics and fiscal watchdogs, however, point to the overall price tag and long-term maintenance obligations and warn that the real drama will play out in the hunt for matching funds and in the governance structure that will ultimately oversee the new space.
What Comes Next
With the federal award now public, the immediate work shifts to finalizing the grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation and nailing down the local match, per WLWT. If permitting, design, and funding line up, project leaders say construction of the targeted deck could start in 2027, with the public plaza opening in phases as additional money comes together. The next 12 to 18 months will reveal whether this first slice of the cap becomes a shovel-ready starter phase or remains an early step in a longer, multi-phased buildout.
For now, the $25 million federal award gives Cincinnati its clearest shot yet at closing a stubborn physical divide between downtown and the riverfront. City and county officials say they will keep residents updated as fundraising, design, and permitting move ahead.
