Along both banks of the Scioto River, the Scioto Mile — nine parks covering 145 acres — links the Scioto Greenway Trail with downtown Columbus and Franklinton, and you're walking in it. The nine parks here cover 145 acres (59 ha). At the beginning of the 20th century the riverbanks were lined with housing and businesses, and later large civic buildings were planned and built: Columbus City Hall, the Ohio Judicial Center, and the Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse.
Bicentennial Park was the first riverfront park, added in 1976, followed by Battelle Riverfront Park in 1983. For years Civic Center Drive, a five‑lane street, cut the parks off from downtown, and in 1992 a replica of Christopher Columbus’s Santa María was docked at Battelle Riverfront Park to entice residents, with limited success. When Michael B. Coleman became mayor in 2000 he advocated riverfront development; the Scioto Mile was planned to connect the two parks and was developed from 2011 to 2015.
The first phase reduced Civic Center Drive from five to three lanes, allowing the installation of colonnades, fountains, gardens, and more. Notice the colonnades, fountains, and gardens installed when Civic Center Drive shrank from five lanes to three.