Tag: environment

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Development News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati terminal projects left out of new Marine Highway Program

Cincinnati was on the outside looking in when U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced eight projects and six initiatives nationwide selected to be a part of the new Marine Highway Program. The projects and initiatives selected to be a part of the program will be eligible for federal assistance, including an initial $7 million in funding, to help move more cargo on the nation’s waterways rather than on crowded highways.

The Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) stated that the eight projects and six initiatives were chosen out of 35 applications submitted by ports and local transportation agencies. Nationwide, MARAD has selected eleven marine corridors for which to focus. Locally, the designated M-70 Corridor includes the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers.

According to MARAD, the M-70 Corridor contains major freight truck bottlenecks at numerous points that could be alleviated by marine highway cargo transportation.  The administration also states that the region is expected to experience a growth in long-haul truck volumes through 2035 that will exacerbate already congested highways and rail networks.

“Making better use of our rivers and coastal routes offers an intelligent way to relieve some of the biggest challenges we face in transportation – congestion on our roads, climate change, fossil fuel energy use and soaring road maintenance costs,” Secretary LaHood said in a prepared release. “There is no better time for us to improve the use of our rivers and coasts for transportation.”

The majority of projects and initiatives selected were those along coastal marine highway corridors. Officials at the Office of Marine Highways and Passenger Services declined to share the full list of applicants with UrbanCincy, but a local river port facility located just west of downtown Cincinnati may have been one of those left off the list.

“There are many places in our country where expanded use of marine transportation just makes sense,” said David Matsuda, Acting Administrator of the Maritime Administration. “It has so much potential to help our nation in many ways: reduced gridlock and greenhouse gases and more jobs for skilled mariners and shipbuilders.”

The proposed Queensgate Terminals rail-barge transfer facility has long been the subject of controversy, public debate, and opportunity. While legal and political battles took place, over the last five years, Ohio officials pledged $9.5 million to the proposed South Point barge terminal further upriver in Lawrence County. At the same time, the OKI Regional Council of Governments has been studying ways in which to reduce freight congestion on the region’s highways and freight rail yards.

The proposed Ohio River facilities are becoming increasingly important as the Panama Canal nears completion on a $5 billion expansion that is expected to dramatically global freight traffic in the eastern United States. According to David Martin, developer of Queensgate Terminals, the Panama Canal expansion will make “back-haul” operations to China even more attractive as shippers look to move goods on otherwise empty cargo containers heading back to east Asia.

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Arts & Entertainment News

Two national community engagement movements to gather in Cincinnati tonight

Transition Town Northside will be meeting tonight at 5pm, and members of the Over-the-Rhine community will be taking part in National Night Out at historic Findlay Market.

The National Night Out event in Over-the-Rhine offers a chance for community members to engage with their local law enforcement officers. Police officers from District One of the Cincinnati Police Department will be at the event that will include food and games. Organizers state that the event is geared towards creating a safe, healthy community by strengthening relationship with the community and its police force. The event will take place at Findlay Market’s farmers shed (map) on the north side of the market house from 5pm to 6:30pm. Please contact the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce for more information at (513) 241-2690.

The Cincinnati Police Department will also be participating in five other National Night Out events throughout the city.  District One will also be at Mt. Adams Monastery (map) from 6pm to 8pm, District Two at the Mt. Washington Recreation Center (map) from 6pm to 9pm, District Three at the Kroger Grocery on Ferguson Road (map) from 5pm to 8pm, District Four at Fleischmann Gardens Park (map) from 6pm to 8pm, and District Five at College Hill Presbyterian Church (map) from 6pm to 9pm.

Meanwhile in Northside, a group committed to helping the neighborhood build community and achieve a more fossil-free existence will be meeting from 5pm to 7pm at the McKie Center (map). The goal of Transition Town Northside is to create an umbrella under which like minded individuals and organizations can pool their efforts, with the main goal of working towards a neighborhood that is local and sustainable. The grass-roots, community effort is generally geared toward responding to the challenges presented by peak oil.

All of these events are free and open to the public and most can be accessed by Metro bus service (plan your trip). Free bicycle parking is also available in the immediate area for most locations.

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News Politics Transportation

Three hybrid buses to be added to Metro’s fleet

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) will debut three new hybrid buses on Thursday, August 5.  The new buses will join a Metro bus fleet that is seeing the number of environmentally friendly buses grow with the help of federal funding through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“As Metro’s fleet gets greener, Cincinnati’s air gets cleaner” said Marilyn Shazor, Metro’s CEO. “Mass transit itself is an important and easy way to go green, and our hybrid buses illustrate our system’s commitment to environmental responsibility.”

Metro officials have estimated that in the first year of operation, the existing six hybrid buses have reduced greenhouse gases by 190 tons, provided 330,000 “green” rides, traveled 210,000 miles, and saved the transit agency 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

The savings are particularly important as transit officials look to deal with fewer people riding transit due to the economy, and lower financial contributions from the City of Cincinnati’s earnings tax which contributes 3/10th of one percent of that tax. In addition to the economic benefits, officials see the growing hybrid fleet as a positive for the local environment.

“Smog is a problem in the Cincinnati area and Metro’s purchase of cleaner, lower emission buses is a positive step toward helping clean up our air,” said Cory Chadwick, Director of the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services. “In fact, everyone can help by increasing their use of public transportation, especially by choosing to ride a diesel-hybrid bus with significantly lower exhaust emissions, better fuel economy, and a quieter ride than a standard diesel bus.”

The new hybrid buses will be on display at Ault Park (map) from 10am to 11am, and on Fifth Street between Walnut and Main (map) from 12pm to 1pm. Metro now has nine hybrid buses in its fleet, with another four to be added in fall 2010.

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News Politics

Cincinnati’s RecycleBank program to be Midwest’s largest

The City of Cincinnati announced, in June 2010, that they would partner with RecycleBank and Cascade Engineering to completely change the way Cincinnatians recycle. After a false start on larger recycling carts earlier in the year, the news came as a pleasant surprise to those looking to increase the volume of recycled household waste.

The RecycleBank partnership will make Cincinnati the largest Midwestern city to take part in the program that offers tangible incentives for residents to be greener in their everyday lives. The program works by effectively paying participants for their household recycling. Residents earn 2.5 points for each pound of recycled material that fills their recycling “smart carts” which are weighed at the time of pick-up. The points are then automatically deposited into an online account where the participants can use them to purchase products or gift cards to both local vendors like Park & Vine or national vendors like Target.

There are winners everywhere in this agreement. Users win because they are effectively paid to recycle their household waste. The City of Cincinnati wins as there is an up-front savings of over $1 million in collection (it will be changed to bi-weekly) and landfill costs for an initial investment of $750,000 which is coming from federal stimulus money. And finally, the environment wins as RecycleBank has shown positive returns as residents recycle more, by as much as 30 percent more, of their day to day household items.

While the City has yet to officially announce how people can participate in this free program, those interested can visit RecycleBank’s website to start an online rewards account now. It is free to sign up and the site offers helpful hints to be more green throughout day-to-day life. Additionally, users can jump start their account by earning points through other programs including a mail in electronics recycling program. The points earned through these other programs can then applied to the account used for Cincinnati’s curbside recycling program expected to start this October.

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Development News Politics Transportation

Reconstructed Fort Washington Way generating variety of societal advances

Each Wednesday in July, UrbanCincy is highlighting Fort Washington Way (FWW), the I-71/US-50 trench bisecting the Cincinnati riverfront from its downtown.  Part one of the series discussed what the area looked like prior to reconstruction a decade ago, and how that reconstruction made way for the development along Cincinnati’s central riverfront.  Last week’s article discussed some of the unseen assets included in the project that continue to benefit Cincinnatians in a variety of ways today.  This week’s piece will highlight even more of the unique features that the 1.25 mile-long highway boasts.

In addition to the combined sewer overflow fix along Cincinnati’s central riverfront through added containment capacity, engineers also increased the capacity for municipal water under Third Street.  This led to an opportunity for the City of Cincinnati to share its high-quality water supply with communities in Northern Kentucky through a new tunnel built underneath the Ohio River.  Those in Kentucky benefit by receiving clean water, and the City of Cincinnati benefits from an increased revenue stream.

On the southern side of the FWW trench is a wall that supports Second Street and conceals the Riverfront Transit Center, but it also serves as the primary flood protection for downtown Cincinnati.  Cincinnati choice to build its flood protection into its everyday infrastructure maximizes utility while also conserving urban space.  Since this wall was engineered to lift Second Street above the floodplain, it effectively extended the street grid south while also maintaining safety.

The benefits discussed so far were not accomplished in isolation.  In fact, the reconstruction project was helped paid for by entities in the state of Kentucky including the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) who saw better connections with Cincinnati as an economic gain.  The project fixed the entanglement of on- and off-ramps to the bridges over the Ohio River, and has led to a better transfer of people and goods across the state line.

The fact that the Cincinnati area calls so many large and lucrative companies home demonstrates that the city once had the ability to draw major economic players to the region.  The fact that they have stayed demonstrates that the area has done well to keep up with changing business, technological, and infrastructure demands.  One such example of keeping up with changing times can be found buried under Third Street, behind the northern wall of Fort Washington Way, where engineers included the capacity for a bundle of fiber optic cables, approximately three feet in diameter, spanning the length of the roadway.

This dark fiber has the capability to be activated and connected with a larger fiber optic network when needed, ensuring that downtown Cincinnati has the ability to stay at the cutting edge of technology.  Possible uses include connecting large-scale data centers to the Internet backbone, or providing high-speed fiber-to-the-home Internet access for Cincinnatians, such as Cincinnati Bell’s FiOptics or Google’s Fiber for Communities.

Next Wednesday’s article will conclude the series, and look to the future of the area.  What can be done with the space over the FWW trench in terms of the capping?  How will future development be impacted?  And, ultimately, will the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way reestablish the strong ties that once existed between Cincinnati and its riverfront?