Paddlers and anglers who rely on Bass Island to launch into the Little Miami River are going to have to find another spot for a while longer. Great Parks has closed river access and parking at the Anderson Township site while crews push through a more than $3 million overhaul aimed at fixing years of erosion and overcrowding at the popular put-in.
According to Great Parks, the project will deliver a larger parking lot, new restroom facilities, a vehicle drop loop and an ADA-accessible route down to the water, including a new boardwalk and concrete walk to the river's edge. Both vehicular and pedestrian access are being redesigned together, the parks agency says, with the goal of making the riverbank easier and safer for everyone to use once work wraps up.
For now, though, the site remains closed. Great Parks states plainly that river access and parking at Bass Island are unavailable during construction, a reality that has already stretched out longer than paddlers might like. As Cincinnati.com reports, high water levels on the Little Miami River in recent months have complicated construction, adding friction to an already complex build.
What's Left to Build
Great Parks says remaining work includes finishing a flood-resistant restroom building along with benches, a drinking fountain and a foot wash station, according to the agency's newsroom update. The project is planned for completion in winter 2027, though the agency cautions that weather and high water could still shift that timeline.
Cost estimates for the project have varied slightly depending on the source. Great Parks' project page puts the total cost of the Bass Island improvements at $3.0 million, while the agency's own newsroom update describes the current total design and construction cost as more than $3 million. Either way, the bulk of the funding is coming from Great Parks' capital project budget, supplemented by $294,000 from the State of Ohio Capital Improvements Fund, the parks agency notes.
Why Great Parks Says the Upgrades Matter
The redesign isn't just about convenience. Great Parks says the improvements are meant to reduce informal, uncontrolled paths down to the river that have been chewing away at the bank and damaging the surrounding riverbank ecosystem. The agency's newsroom post echoes that same point, noting the upgrades are intended to curb the kind of uncontrolled access that has been contributing to erosion and hurting wildlife habitat along the shoreline.
Looking further upstream, Great Parks says planning is already underway for a separate 13.5-acre initiative to restore forest and riparian zones near the project area, a sign the agency sees Bass Island as one piece of a broader effort to stabilize that stretch of the Little Miami.
Community Input Shaped the Design
The push to redo Bass Island didn't come out of nowhere. Great Parks says more than 2,800 community members weighed in requesting improvements to the site through the agency's Park and Facility Master Plans, and an early planning survey found 56% of respondents were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the existing river access setup. Later public input showed stronger enthusiasm for the fix: 89% of respondents said the planned improvements would make them more likely to actually use Bass Island, per Great Parks' newsroom update.
While Bass Island is closed, Great Parks points paddlers and anglers toward alternatives nearby — downstream at Otto Armleder Memorial Park and upstream at Lake Isabella — to keep river access available in the meantime.
Other Projects Nearby
The Bass Island closure comes as Great Parks has several other projects moving along the Little Miami Scenic Trail corridor. The agency says it is partnering with ODOT on the third and final phase of the Columbia Connector Trail, directly across the river from the Bass Island site. Last year, Great Parks also opened a 1.5-mile natural surface trail at Avoca Trailhead a short distance north along the same scenic trail corridor.
As first reported by WKRC, visitors hoping to return to Bass Island will simply have to wait longer, with the project not expected to wrap until next winter. Until then, the site stays closed, the equipment stays parked, and the Little Miami's banks get a chance to heal before the crowds come back.
