Great Southern Opens as Central Ohio’s 21st Metro Park

Great Southern Metro Park opened April 1, 2026, becoming the 21st park in the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system. The 70-acre south Columbus site offers trails, prairie, play and fitness areas, while a planned Scioto Greenway connection remains a future project.

What is open now

The official park page places Great Southern at 125 Williams Road along the Scioto River. It lists a playground, recreation field, fitness stations, obstacle course, picnic areas and a combination of paved and natural-surface trails.

Metro Parks says the property covers 70 acres. Its April opening made Great Southern the system’s 21st park, a status also reported by WOSU.

Trail details matter

The park page identifies the paved Heer Park Loop and Lookout Loop, along with the gravel Canal Trail. Trail lengths and permitted uses vary, so visitors should use the official map rather than assume every route is paved or bicycle-accessible.

The site’s prairie occupies about 3 acres, according to Metro Parks. The agency describes a mix of native grasses and wildflowers intended to bloom through much of the growing season.

Metro Parks marks the Heer Park and Lookout loops as accessible paved routes, while the Canal Trail is gravel and includes a steep section. Those distinctions help visitors choose a route that matches their mobility and equipment.

The river connection is incomplete

Early coverage emphasized the park’s Scioto River location. The official page says the Scioto Greenway Trail will eventually extend from Scioto Audubon to Great Southern, but it does not give a completion date on the current park page.

That distinction is important: the park is open, while the continuous trail connection to downtown is not yet presented as completed. CREN found no current construction schedule for the extension in the sources reviewed.

What the opening means locally

The measurable change is expanded public access to recreation on the south side. The available records do not quantify effects on nearby home prices, business revenue or development demand, so CREN does not infer those outcomes.

The next checkpoints are any Metro Parks board action or capital plan that funds the greenway extension, plus updates to trail maps as the site develops. Visitors can already verify hours, rules, accessibility notes and route conditions through the park’s official page.