Category: Transportation

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News Transportation

Transit guide explains Cincinnati bus riding basics

A good map makes it easy to see what’s important. Highways don’t look the same as local roads on a good street map; similarly, major transit corridors shouldn’t look the same on a map as a bus that only runs twice a day.  Cincinnati activist Nathan Wessel created a map that highlights the most valuable and convenient Metro bus corridors – the transit equivalent of major arterial streets – and separates them from inconvenient and specialized routes.

“These frequent routes are the backbone of Cincinnati’s transit infrastructure, and understanding them is vital to riding the bus without stress,” Wessel explained. “A good transit map not only needs to represent spatial relationships, but show where and WHEN transit exists.”

Click to enlarge (PDF)

One of the biggest challenges of using transit in Cincinnati is understanding it. The new rider is presented with a complicated fare structure as well as a mess of schedules and maps so overwhelming and disjointed that many would-be riders give up. Metro is making strides towards streamlining the system, but in the interim, Wessel’s map makes understanding how the buses work a lot easier.

This map reduces the jumble to a legible system with an easily visible structure of primary, secondary, and tertiary routes that change clearly in both space and time. “The map is laid out so that people who are new to riding the bus can quickly and easily see which route they need to take, and how to do it,” Wessel said.

Long term, the goal is to have the map printed, distributed, and available potential transit riders. For example, the easy to understand transit map could be included in a welcome binder presented to incoming freshmen at UC, or handed to new out-of-town P&G employees looking for a place to live on a bus line. When printed, the map folds into an approximately 3-inch by 3-inch square with downtown routing information and some other important specifics on the back side.

Wessels is still looking to raise funds to make his idea a reality, as well as official acknowledgment from the the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which operates Metro, and the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky.

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News Transportation

Midwest High Speed Rail Association to host happy hour discussion in Cincinnati

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association will be meeting in Cincinnati on Wednesday, January 26 at Arnold’s Bar & Grill.  The meeting will take place from 6pm to 8pm and reportedly will include an “informal discussion” about high-speed rail led by executive director Rick Harnish.

The event is free and open to the public, but food and drink will not be provided by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.  Food and drink will however be available for purchase from Arnold’s.

Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP online or by emailing mailto: Mark@MidwestHSR.org, but anyone is encouraged to show up at the time of the event and join the conversation.  Arnold’s Bar & Grill is located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati at 210 East 8th Street.

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Development News Transportation

Five Day Design Challenge hopes to spur visionary public transit ideas

Michael Schuster Associates (MSA) is looking for a work week’s worth of revolutionary thinking. The Cincinnati-based architecture firm is sponsoring the 2011 Five Day Design Challenge, a competition calling on local and international thinkers from any discipline to generate ideas for solving real challenges facing Cincinnati and other mid-sized U.S. cities.

Dave Schuster, Visual Media Director at MSA, felt that the time was right for a deeper look at transit in Cincinnati. “We decided to focus the FIVE Competition on transportation this year because it’s very pertinent to the current social climate of the city,” Schuster explained.

“2010 saw an incredible amount of debate regarding the 3C line, the widening of I-75, the streetcar project, and more. With new development happening in The Banks, the casino and numerous projects in between, strengthening connectivity to and within the city will be essential to the long term growth of Cincinnati. Not only that, but with issues in pollution and global warming and the heavy costs associated with commuting, creating a more robust transportation network will be a great asset to the city now and in the future.”

On Feburary 3, 2011, MSA will release the full details of the project brief and all applicants will then have exactly five days to solve the problem given to them. Context information relevant to the specific challenge will be released before, but releasing details too early would spoil the fun.

This year’s design theme revolves around public transportation and infrastructure. There is sufficient evidence concluding that designing roadways to add more cars and lanes only encourages traffic congestion, which in turn encourages more sprawl, increased obesity, stress, commute times, isolationism and dependence on foreign oil.

Multi-disciplinary teams of designers are encouraged to sign up for the competition. Registration fees are only $40 and is ongoing through February 4. The jury committee consists of Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Cincinnati Art Museum Director Aaron Betsky, local architect Michael Schuster, transit guru John Schneider, and Michael Moore, Director of the City of Cincinnati Transportation and Engineering Office. Together this panel will choose the top five winning designs, who will receive a total of $5,555 in prize money.

“We hope that the competition will raise an awareness and excitement about transportation problems within Cincinnati,” said Schuster. “By asking the question, ‘Can better design help public transportation?’ we will begin to see an emergence of ideas that have the problem solving potential to shape and define Cincinnati in a positive and creative way.”

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Development News Politics Transportation

The surprising story of sustainability in Seoul

When thinking of the mega-cities in Asia, one does not often first think of sustainability or environmental stewardship. But the reality, as I experienced in Seoul, is much different from the perception.

As the 24.5 million-person mega-city continues to grow both up and out, Korean leaders have turned a watchful eye to environmental sustainability. Projects like the removal of an elevated highway to restore a stream through the heart of the city, riverfront park development, investments in transit, and a massive transition to electric-powered buses are powering the world’s third largest city towards a sustainable future that was once considered inconceivable.

Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration:
In the heart of Seoul’s Jongno-gu is a sub-level stream. The Cheonggyecheon Stream stretches six kilometers and follows the path of what was previously an offensive elevated highway. The highway was removed and replaced by the stream and two narrow parallel roadways.

While the $900 million project received much criticism and pushback when it began in 2003, the result has been one of the most successful projects of Lee Myung-Bak’s administration. Since the stream opened in 2005, Koreans, and visitors alike, flock to the stream for casual strolls, use it as a place to jog or relax, and the stream has become the epicenter for major cultural events like the annual Seoul Lantern Festival.

Environmentally speaking, the restoration of the Cheonggyecheon Stream has helped to increase wildlife in the area, cool down the urban heat island effect in the immediate vicinity by an average of 38.5 degrees, decrease automobile traffic, and increase transit ridership.

What the stream does so successfully is provide a corridor of open space in an otherwise extremely busy and crowded city center. It serves as both a welcoming getaway as much as a symbol for the future of a more eco-friendly Seoul.

Banpo Hangang Park:
If you head south from the Cheonggyecheon you will pass by Namsan Tower and park, U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, the famed Itaewon neighborhood along with several other neighborhoods. At that point you will reach the Han River. There the southern bank of the river has, in recent years, been transformed into a world-class park in an effort to restore the river’s edge while also creating a dynamic new park space for those living in the otherwise congested Seoul.

The project began in 2007 and saw its first elements come online in April 2009. Inside the linear park visitors are able to find playgrounds, an inline skating track, soccer field, basketball courts, bike lanes and a rental shop, picnic locations and other recreational opportunities.

The park is part of the larger Hangang Renaissance Project, but represents a movement taking place around the world to transform flood-prone areas into functional park spaces. In Seoul, the addition of open space is of even greater importance than many other cities, but the Banpo Hangang Park is similar to the string of riverfront parks in Cincinnati including the new Central Riverfront Park, Sawyer Point, Bicentennial Commons, and the International Friendship Park.

Transit & Electric Buses:
In addition to having the world’s third largest subway system and a truly robust bus network, Seoul officials have announced that they intend to convert the city’s massive bus fleet to electric. In fact, transportation officials have announced that half (120,000 buses) of its entire fleet will be electric by 2020 – by far the most aggressive goal anywhere in the world.

The conversion of Seoul’s buses to electric is matched by their willingness to invest in their system. The city boasts a large bus rapid transit system that was smartly copied from Germany, fast and timely service, commuter and circulator lines, and a pay card system that integrates with taxis and trains all throughout the Republic of Korea.

Combine these projects with the wave of green building developments and other cultural movements towards sustainability and you have yourself a surprising mega-city in east Asia that has shifted its attention from simply growing as fast as possible, to growing the best way possible.

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Development News Politics Transportation

$809M identified for extension of I-74 through Hamilton County

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) published its 2011-2015 Major New Construction Program List on December 9. The list included six funding allocations totaling more than $809 million of expressway work that will set the stage for the long-envisioned extension of I-74 through Cincinnati.

The money is being allocated through the veil of the controversial Eastern Corridor Project. $115 million has been budgeted for reconstruction of the US 32 – I-275 cloverleaf, grade separation of US 32 near this interchange, and modifications to Red Bank Road that anticipate its reconstruction as a fully grade separated expressway. Another $13.8 million has also been budgeted for the long-planned $366 million US 32 bypass and Little Miami River bridge between Red Bank Road and Interstate 275.

This partial funding of all segments of the Eastern Corridor Project on ODOT’s current Program List illustrates that the project is still very much on the table, and that ODOT will likely turn its full attention and funding toward the project after the reconstruction and widening of Interstate 75 is completed later this decade.

I-74 Extension Details
Many have suspected the use of the Eastern Corridor Project was being used as a veil for an interstate project, but until now there has been no financial backing to these claims. The extension of I-74, through Hamilton County, would be realized by upgrading US 32 between I-71 and I-275, and by upgrading other stretches of local expressways to interstate status and giving them the I-74 name. Once the extension is complete, I-74 would run from its current terminus at I-75 in Cincinnati to existing sections of I-74 in North Carolina.

In such a scenario, three miles of I-75 between Northside and Bond Hill would be co-signed as I-74, the entirety of the Norwood Lateral would become I-74, and I-71 between the Lateral and Red Bank Road would be co-signed as I-74. From that point, the planned “Eastern Corridor” US 32 bypass, which is being built to interstate highway design standards, can with the stroke of a pen become I-74.

Critical pieces of such a cross-county plan will soon commence construction as part of the I-75 Millcreek Expressway project. This year, the Millcreek Expressway project will fund $9 million in modifications to the I-74 Colerain Avenue interchange near Mt. Airy Forest. The nearby I-74/75 interchange in Northside, the present site of I-74’s terminus, is scheduled to be completely reconstructed in 2013. The I-75/Norwood Lateral interchange is scheduled to be rebuilt between 2016 and 2018.

Beneficiaries of an I-74 Extension
US 32 between I-275 and eastern Ohio, completed in the late 1990’s, was built to near-interstate specifications in anticipation of its future designation as I-74. In the fifteen years since its completion, it has attracted almost zero development along its more than 200-mile path. It is unlikely that replacement of its at-grade intersections with diamond interchanges will encourage increased private investment.

In the Cincinnati area, the most obvious beneficiaries of the Eastern Corridor plan, aside from those construction companies who would actually build it, are those who control tracts of land in Clermont County, who no doubt wish to develop large-scale sprawl along US 32 outside the I-275 loop. Such a roadway would only marginally improve the area’s access to downtown Cincinnati, and therefore strengthen the position of Kenwood, Blue Ash, and other suburban areas that compete with it for jobs and commerce.

The possible designation of the Norwood Lateral as an interstate would make its reconstruction a priority, and reconfiguration of its ramps could make possible the redevelopment of vacant land in Norwood and Bond Hill. Reconstruction of the I-71/Norwood Lateral interchange could accelerate the redevelopment of the Cincinnati Milacron site.

Potential Impacts
The US 32 bypass will negatively affect property values and the quality-of-life presently enjoyed by those who reside in the Newtown area. Additionally, the Sierra Club has campaigned against the highway’s Little Miami River bridge since the concept was introduced, arguing that its construction will negatively affect the river’s wildlife.

From the 1930’s on through the 1960’s, every mile of the 43,000-mile Interstate Highway System first appeared as a line on somebody’s map. In Cincinnati, remnants of abandoned subway right-of-way gradually became parts of what we know today as I-75, I-71, and the Norwood Lateral. The idea was to spread the population of Cincinnati into suburban areas. Another cross-town freeway in the form of I-74 will further depopulate the core of our region.