Scioto Mile  

With a little urban panache, Mother Nature is taking over our Downtown landscape.

The invasion has arrived in the form of the Scioto Mile, a huge winding riverfront park that stretches from the Arena District all the way to the Whittier Peninsula.  The green corridor physically connects Downtown to the Scioto River. Filled with fountains, benches, and free Wi-Fi, this is nature at its friendliest.

Construction began in 2008 and the Scioto Mile opened to the public July 7, 2011.

The Promenade section of the park stretches along Civic Center Drive from Broad Street to Rich Street and connects Battelle and Bicentennial Parks.  

The Promenade is lined by a fully-restored limestone balustrade and features a stone colonnade with swinging benches, traditional park benches, and card and chess tables, along with two canal fountains. The Promenade also has a stunning plaza with gorgeous planters and a large fountain featuring bronze fish sculptures, making this park a beautiful collaboration between nature and architecture.

And yes, the entire area is designated a free Wi-Fi zone, offering a little work and a little play every day.

Bicentennial Park has also been transformed to include a permanent performance bandshell to host riverside concerts and performances. The park also features a stunning 15,000 sq. ft. water fountain, with over 1,000 pop-up jets creating a dancing wall of water, five halos that spray mist and fog, and a blossom feature that shoots a stream of water over 70 feet in the air.  A restaurant café, Milestone 229, overlooks the whole scene and affords the opportunity to take in the sites . . . while taking in a few bites too.

For more information visit the Scioto Mile Website.

Of course, the development of Scioto Mile would have been impossible without the generous support and funding of many corporate and community sponsors including:

American Electric Power
City of Columbus
Franklin County Board of Commissioners
State Of Ohio
Huntington Bancshares
Nationwide Insurance 
Robert F. Wolfe and Edgar T. Wolfe Foundation
Battelle
Columbia Gas
The Columbus Foundation
Limited Brands
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Time Warner Cable 
Anonymous Donors
Crane Family Foundation
Grange Insurance
Ingram-White Castle Foundation
NetJets, Inc.
JP Morgan Chase
Bowen Engineering Corporation
Cardinal Health
Joseph A. Jeffrey Endowment Fund of The Columbus Foundation
New Albany Company
Abbott Laboratories
Industrial Contractors
Sun Technical Services