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Cincinnati City Council approves $775k to move streetcar project along

Cincinnati City Council approved $775,000 for environmental studies and preliminary engineering work on the Cincinnati Streetcar project that will run from the riverfront, through Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, and go up the hill to the Uptown neighborhoods surrounding the University of Cincinnati.

The approval of the $775,000 allows for the City to move forward with the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar and maintain its spot in the contest for state and federal transportation dollars that are necessary in order to make the project happen.

The first of such money comes from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants and will be announced in February. The Federal Government’s Grants for Urban Circulator projects will be announced sometime after TIGER, and then money from Ohio’s Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) should be announced this Spring.

More money is needed in order to complete the preliminary engineering work and can be approved at a later date – a move that put some on council at ease about earmarking too much money for the project before we know the outcome of said grants. Should all go according to plan, Cincinnati could open the nation’s next modern streetcar system in 2012.

Chris Monzel (R), Leslie Ghiz (R), and Charlie Winburn (R) were the three opposition votes. Interestingly enough, all three of City Council’s Republicans have already announced that they will be running for the open Hamilton County Commissioner seat this Fall. Monzel has gone as far to say that he is a “son of the suburbs” and will probably be moving out of the City once he is no longer on City Council.

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New Cincinnati Streetcar Development Map

The CincyStreetcar Blog has produced a new map of all the development that is taking place, being planned, or under construction along the proposed route of the Cincinnati Streetcar.

Click map image on right to open up large HQ version in new window.

My first two thoughts are: 1) there is a lot happening in our center city, and 2) much of what is happening is along the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar route and would more than likely be aided by high-quality transit service that connects the developments with additional residents, visitors, attractions, businesses and more.

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News Politics Transportation

Cincinnati’s I-75 is worst commute in Ohio; one of worst in Midwest

Cincinnatians traveling along the Interstate 75 corridor can now go to bed at night knowing that they drive the worst stretch of interstate in Ohio, and one of the worst in the entire Midwest according to a recent analysis by The Daily Beast.

The Daily Beast ranked the nation’s metropolitan areas with the worst rush-hour congestion based on peak hour Travel Time Index (TTI) for each particular highway segment. Once the 75 worst metropolitan areas were determined, the worst highway in each area was defined according to the most hours of bottleneck congestion. For Cincinnati, I-75 racked up 86 hours of weekly congestion with the worst bottleneck occurring at Exit 10 (map) for southbound traffic. The worst bottleneck stretches on average some .46 miles, with speeds of approximately 21mph, and adding up to 16 hours of bottleneck time each week.

Worst Commutes in the Midwest:
#9 – Kennedy Expressway, Chicago (712 hrs)
#17 – I-494, Minneapolis-St. Paul (184 hrs)
#34 – I-94, Milwaukee (50 hrs)
#36 – I-75, Cincinnati (86 hrs)
#39 – Edsel Ford Freeway, Detroit (174 hrs)
#42 – I-90, Cleveland (59 hrs)
#45 – I-270, St. Louis (89 hrs)
#52 – North Freeway, Columbus (14 hrs)
#56 – I-65, Indianapolis (19 hrs)
#58 – I-70, Kansas City (47 hrs)
#67 – I-271, Akron (4 hrs)
#69 – I-75, Dayton (46 hrs)

What becomes particularly problematic for Cincinnati is ODOT’s approach to handling congestion. This past fall ODOT spokesperson Liz Lyons told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “the main gist is widening, adding more lanes for traffic to flow easier,” when it comes to handling the congestion and daily gridlock on Ohio’s worst stretch of interstate.

Cincinnati’s stretch of Interstate 75 is the most congested in Ohio, and one of the worst commutes in the Midwest. Interstate 75 congestion photos from Scott Beseler, Nick Daggy, and Jake Mecklenborg respectively.

The reality is that ODOT’s plan to add, at most, one lane of traffic to this section of I-75 will do nothing more than cause tremendous headaches over the course of its construction and not achieve any congestion savings. The direction of transportation planning in the 21st Century is all about mobility options. Our aging population and the new workforce both desire increased mobility options more so than the immediate convenience of an automobile.

European cities are far ahead when it comes to creating mobility options, but in America there are a few examples where mobility has been placed as the top priority when it comes to transportation planning. Interestingly enough, the cities that have done this are among those trying to make up the most ground on cities like older built cities like Cincinnati that have inherent mobility advantages.

Cincinnati’s extensive street grid and compact neighborhoods that were built prior to the Eisenhower Interstate System offer lots of positives upon which to build. Additionally, Cincinnati’s aging demographics and 21st Century employment sectors represent a real opportunity to not only reduce congestion, but remove the need for automobiles altogether. Multi-modal transportation options like the Cincinnati Streetcar will promote neighborhoods in which people can live closer to their jobs and be only a short train ride away from their job, shopping, or entertainment destination.

So the question is whether Midwestern cities like Cincinnati will continue to try to solve 21st Century problems with 20th Century solutions, or will policy makers here finally have that “ah-ha” moment and start planning our transportation networks around options?

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The failure of asphalt only congestion solutions

First instinct may tell us that widening a congested highway will help reduce traffic congestion, but the reality is quite different. Highway widening projects not only create additional congestion during the construction work, but also increase the highways usage once work is complete thus contributing to the cycle of congestion.

Cincinnatians are soon to experience what may be the most tumultuous highway construction period ever. Interstate 75 will be reconstructed and widened roughly from the Norwood Lateral to the Ohio River including the Brent Spence Bridge and its approaches. This construction work will cost billions of dollars and create a decade-long nightmare for Cincinnatians with no other commuting options than their automobile.

Brent Spence Bridge approach photo by 5chw4r7z.

Unfortunately the “no pain, no gain” saying doesn’t fit here, as the OKI Regional Council of Governments has previously studied and determined that the reconstruction effort will bring I-75 from a Class D level highway to a, wait for it, Class D level highway once it is complete.

There are two primary reasons for this: 1) the work being planned now will take more than a decade to complete and by that point traffic demands will increase and call for additional capacity not being anticipated now, and 2) the completed improvements will encourage additional drivers to take the heavily traveled corridor instead of taking what may be less direct side routes. The second factor is often experienced in its inverse when people take less direct routes to avoid what may be perceived as a more cumbersome route due to congestion or tolling for example.

In 1942 Robert Moses noticed that the highways he had built around New York City in 1939 were somehow generating greater traffic problems than had existed previously. Since then, the phenomenon has been well documented, most notably in 1989, when the Southern California Association of Governments concluded that traffic-assistance measures, be they adding lanes, or even double-decking the roadways, would have no more than a cosmetic effect on Los Angeles’ traffic problems. -Andres Duany in Suburban Nation

Cincinnatians should learn from Atlanta where they have mastered the art of expanding highways to unbelievable measures. The infamous “Connector” running through Midtown and Downtown Atlanta carries both I-75 and I-85 traffic and currently has 14 lanes of moving traffic which is being widened to include an intricate system of parallel roadways and ramps that bloat the stretch of highway to some 20 or so lanes.

The “Connector” through Midtown Atlanta as it approaches Downtown on a typical evening commute.

But even with the large vehicle capacity, through truck ban, HOV lanes, and parallel roads the highway is still a congested mess each rush hour and often throughout much of the day (including weekends). The problem in Atlanta is that their rail system, MARTA, does not run along either the I-75 or I-85 densely populated and traveled corridors.

When planning for the reconstruction of I-75 through Cincinnati, community leaders need to think beyond the asphalt and realize that additional transportation modes are what will ultimately reduce congestion along the I-75 corridor. Light rail right-of-way is reportedly being planned for in the redesigns and needs to be a serious priority of the effort. It would be short-sighted and misguided to attempt to ease congestion by only addressing one mode of transportation.

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New Clifton Heights traffic signals improve pedestrian safety

The City of Cincinnati has installed two new stoplights in the Clifton Heights neighborhood directly adjacent to the University of Cincinnati. These lights are located at the intersections of Calhoun & Ohio streets as well as Clifton & College Court (the drive at which the college of DAAP is located).

For now the light at Ohio and Calhoun only blinks yellow and red, but will be changed to a full functioning stop light in the future. The DAAP light is fully functioning and allows for drivers turning left out of College Court onto Clifton to have a safe right-of-way.

The new light on Calhoun (map) comes at a particularly troubling spot for pedestrians. The flat straight-a-way had often encouraged drivers to speed down the street just feet away from pedestrians and bicyclists, many of whom cross back and forth across the street.

As a student attending the College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning I have experienced the perils of attempting to cross Clifton Street during rush hour. It is a busy, four lane road where drivers often drive over the speed limit. Drivers had a tendency to ignore the small yellow pedestrian crosswalk sign swinging high above the street, and more than once I jumped out of the way to avoid a collision. One memorable morning a van screeched to a halt approximately 6 inches from smashing me into pulpy art student pieces. I gave him a piece of my mind, for sure.