Loveland will extend sidewalks along East Loveland Avenue after securing a $662,839 federal grant for the project's second phase, Mayor Kathy Bailey announced in early October.

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), the regional transportation planning organization for the Cincinnati area, awarded the money. The Phase 2 project will push new sidewalk east along the road to The Bluff at Bares Creek subdivision, closing a pedestrian gap between the neighborhood and downtown Loveland, as first reported by the Clermont Guardian.

City officials said the project also moves Loveland closer to a pedestrian connection to the former Grail property, where Clermont County has been working toward a future public park. The roughly 315-acre tract was maintained for decades by the Grail, an international women's religious community, according to the Clermont Guardian. A developer's 2022 proposal to build more than 200 homes on part of the site was rejected after community opposition.

A 2023 Cardinal announcement described a recommended $4.897 million Clean Ohio grant to purchase about 89 acres of the Grail site for conservation and a planned county park.

Phase 2 builds on sidewalk work finished in 2024. In that first phase, the city used $722,400 in state grant funding to install sidewalks on both sides of East Loveland Avenue between roughly 227 and 356 E. Loveland Ave., according to the city's past construction projects page.

The city also replaced a bridge over Bares Run and made storm sewer and water main improvements. Clermont County contributed $478,320 for the bridge, and the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) replaced about 1,300 linear feet of sanitary sewer along the corridor. The 2024 work closed the road between Third and Fifth streets for about six months.

The grant is the latest OKI award for Loveland. The city's active projects page lists a $4.6 million OKI grant for the Loveland-Madeira Road Corridor and a $761,000 OKI grant to extend sidewalks along Butterworth Road.

Bailey thanked Choice One Engineering, an engineering firm with a Loveland office that prepared and submitted the city's application to OKI.

No construction start date for Phase 2 has been announced. The city has not disclosed whether the grant requires a local match or what the total project cost will be.