TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The Glass City Riverwalk Project continues to change the face of downtown Toledo, so how’s it coming along?
Phase 1 and 2 of the Riverwalk Project was Glass City Metropark, which is, of course, now complete and open. Now Phase 3 is underway, which includes construction being done on both sides of the river, right next to the MLK Bridge.
“We have part of it in upriver that is in the former International Park, that’s in construction and then the downtown piece,” said Jennifer Van Horn, the chief planning and construction officer for Metroparks Toledo.
Accessibility is one of the hallmarks of the Riverwalk project, and this phase of construction brings a ramp bridge all the way up onto the MLK Bridge, which will allow people of all abilities to easily travel from one side of the river to the other.
“It connects to the multi-use path that goes over the MLK Bridge, and then will tie into the multi-use path on the other side,” explained Van Horn.
Downtown environments are difficult to build parks in, especially since the riverfront was formerly industrial ground. But a lot of lessons learned with Glass City Metropark will influence the construction of the rest of the riverwalk.
“In the center of the bridge, we wanted to make sure that this was a community space,” Van Horn said. “It’s designed really beautifully, you can see the steps, the rocks, the lighting, the plants that are coming together. So this is going to be a really lush Metroparks space that will also be able to be used for programming and community.”
Phase 3 will officially open to the public in the summer of 2026, and the rest of the Riverwalk project remains on track. All five phases are planned to be completed by the end of the decade.
“We opened the first phase in 2020, and that was Phase 1 of Glass City Metropark,” added Van Horn. “We opened Phase 2 a couple of years ago, so that was 25%. When this piece here opens, we’ll be 50% of the way done.”
The next phase of the operation, Phase 4, will be to work on the Vistula neighborhood and eventually, there are plans to make that the 20th Metropark.
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This article was published by WTVG on 2025-11-05 19:33:00
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