Tag: Cincinnati

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Scramble Crossings for Cincinnati

Those who frequent Downtown know how crowded some intersections get with pedestrians throughout the day. There are 23 intersections that see more than 1,000 pedestrians during peak hours. Of those 23, five see more than 2,000 and one (4th & Walnut) sees over 3,000 pedestrians per hour.

That’s a lot of people walking around and trying to navigate the roadways filled with delivery trucks, taxis, buses, bicyclists and the hurried drivers. In addition to it being frustrating, it can also be dangerous to attempt multiple crossings of the same congested intersection.

2008 Downtown Pedestrian Count Map

If pedestrians were able to cross diagonally across intersections with traffic stopped in all directions, it would improve both vehicular and pedestrian flow, but also improve safety across the board.

“Scramble crossings” essentially are intersections that do just that. In Cincinnati’s case, intersections with high volumes of pedestrian traffic could implement these during their peak volume hours of the day. The “scramble crossings” or “diagonal crossings” could first be implemented at the five intersections that see volume in excess of 2,000 pedestrians per hour, and could be expanded as needed.

When intersections no longer have pedestrian volumes to warrant the “scramble crossings” they could revert back to normal crossing operations. The associated costs would be reprogramming of the lights, painting of the diagonal crossings and possibly some minimal signage/education. Be sure to share any other intersections you feel are qualified for such programming in the comment section.

Watch this brief 3 minute video about how Los Angeles is implementing these crossings today, and how they are functioning for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

Pedestrian count data from 2008 Pedestrian Count Summary (1mb PDF)

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News

Uptown Commons update and breakdown

Towne Properties has released more details and more renderings for their Uptown Commons project on the southern edge of the University of Cincinnati located in between Calhoun and McMillan streets. The renderings themselves are high-quality, but I’m going to take this chance to share some of my thoughts and concerns on this developing project plan.


Office building located at Vine, Calhoun, and McMillan streets looking west

The design for the office building is solid and I think will work well for this site both aesthetically and functionally. The scale of the building seems right and I really appreciate the use of glass to give it a more contemporary feel in the contemporary feeling Uptown area.

The park space seen in the above image seems to illustrate the incorporation for any future streetcar that might run up Vine and cut over to run west along Calhoun. This is a forward-thinking approach that will pay off big time for both the community and Towne Properties when the streetcar system is built.

Office building looking west from Old St. George church

On the site plan this area behind the office building is labeled as a plaza. From this view though it just has me confused what it would ever be used for especially with the apparent wall along Calhoun Street. There is the potential for a highly used plaza here with the new office building and other nearby commercial uses, but the spot will surely have to be better thought out than what this rendering indicates for it to really work.

Overall view of project site

If a new traffic signal is installed at Ohio Avenue per this plan, then the traffic signal at Scioto should be removed. Ohio and Calhoun is often congested and could probably use the signal for improved vehicular and pedestrian safety. Scioto and Calhoun doesn’t really need the signal as the southern portion of Scioto is rarely used due to its steep incline and the northern portion isn’t really used at all as service to the university is now routed through Dennis Street adjacent to Panera Bread.

The whole project could use more residential units if you ask me. Office space and the hotel will be great additions to this area of Uptown and will help to diversify the mixture of uses, and also spur more activity during non peak school times. McMillan Street also seems to get ignored to a certain extent. The previous idea of townhouses here seemed to work well, but probably not any more with this terrible housing market.

Renderings provided by Cole + Russel Architects

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Give Back Cincinnati back at the Emery

Give Back Cincinnati went back to the Emery Theatre for their second visit where volunteers donated their time and energy to help clean up the OTR gem.

The fun started just around the corner at the Know Theatre for registration and mingling. Volunteers then began the clean up work to help keep the Emery Theatre in the minds of Cincinnatians. Following the clean up, members of Give Back Cincinnati hit up the Bockfest celebrations.

Below is a slideshow with event photos from inside the Emery Theatre. There are 39 photos in the slideshow that were provided by Give Back Cincinnati and taken by Jackie Anderson.

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News

Play it Forward concert at the Madison Theater

Musical performances by Sonny Moorman, Tracy Walker, The Bluebirds, Ricky Nye, Keith Little, Noah Hunt and Gary Burbank with Blue Run will fill the Madison Theater on Thursday, March 12th for a concert benefiting Play it Forward.

Play it Forward is a local non-profit started by Gary Burbank in 2007. The organization works to support local musicians whose hard work and dedication often comes at a high financial cost for them individually. Play it Forward seeks to, “educate the public about those cases and to create and manage an investment fund whose annual profits will be used to assist Greater Cincinnati musicians and their families in times of catastrophic need.”

The Play it Forward All-Star Concert for a Cause will not only bring together a host of musical talents, but it will also have a two-disk, thirty-track compilation CD from local artists. The CD made up of original tracks, will be sold to help raise funds for Play it Forward. Some of these local artists are also on the schedule to perform.

The concert will start at 8pm at the Madison Theater (GoogleMap) in Covington. Doors will open at 7pm, and tickets are $12 in advance or $15 day of the show. Tickets can be purchased through the Madison Theater Box Office, Shake It Records, Clifton Natural Foods, Buddy Rogers Music in Anderson, Susan’s Natural World, Burbank’s Real BBQ, and Everybody’s Records.

The concert is sponsored by Hudy Delight Beer – part of the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company family of beers.
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News

A long way to go…

Special thanks to CityKin and Somewhere Over-the-Rhine for drawing my attention to this great video from Streetfilms (see below). The video is great but it really depresses me for a couple of reasons.

1) Articulated buses, light rail, monorail, streetcars, and real-time arrival – boy are we faaaaaaaar behind Seattle and other like cities on the transit front. We have a bus system and nothing else, and our bus system lacks real-time arrival and articulated buses for increased capacity on highly used routes.

2) Whole Foods Market – we have some convenience stores, a farmer’s market with limited hours, and a deli on steroids. At the same time Seattle is rolling out a brand new Whole Foods Market in what was previously considered an iffy area (Over-the-Rhine anyone?).

3) Amazon.com – the new economy is going to be shaped by companies of innovation. The United States doesn’t produce material goods anymore, we produce innovation and creativity. This innovation and creativity is best facilitated in cities, and the cities that are winning out are the ones who can attract the talent and jobs for these industries. Seattle has technology, information, and the internet…Cincinnati has bananas, clothes, and household items. You tell me who wins out in this new economy?

I’m more optimistic about Cincinnati than just about anyone, but I do see the need for us to make bold and dramatic changes in the way we operate. We are waaaaaaay behind these other cities when it comes to positioning our city/region for the new economy. We not only need to catch up, but we have to get ahead.

I wish I were smart enough to know how to address some of these issues, because I would weigh in with my solutions if I had them. I do know they need to be answered. Part of that solution is transit. Seattle gets it, so does Portland, San Francisco, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, D.C. New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, San Diego, Philadelphia, and Boston.

So how and when are we going to step it up and take action? It needs to be soon, and it needs to be swift. I fear that if Cincinnati misses out on this economic shift, as we have in the past, then we may be writing our future for the worse.