Tag: Transportation

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Sen. Brown announces $700k for Ohio Hub

United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced the passage of $2.75 million in federal funds for transportation and infrastructure projects in Ohio. $700,000 of that money will be going towards improving the capacity of passenger and freight trains – a critical component of the Midwest Regional Rail System that officials says will integrate the region’s air, highway, and local transit networks along 3,000-mile interstate rail network with more than 45 proposed passenger stations.

Senator Brown said that, “investing in Ohio’s transportation infrastructure is critical to ensuring the long-term economic competitiveness of our state. These funds will help communities make necessary improvements to buildings, roads, and public transportation.”

Also within the bill, the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank, Inc. will receive $500,000 for renovation and improvement work at their 110,000 square-foot food distribution facility. Senator Brown’s office states that these improvements will allow the center to increase capacity and food handling efficiency, while also creating a suitable space to the organization’s Nonprofit Training Center.

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Because Cincinnati Can Be Better

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News Transportation

UC*Metro deal renewed for 2009-10 school year

University of Cincinnati students, faculty, and staff have enjoyed free or discounted rides on Cincinnati’s Metro bus service since 2007. The original deal allowed anyone with a valid UC ID card (“Bearcat card”) to ride for free by simply showing his or her ID.

In 2008, some changes were made to the program, requiring students, faculty, and staff to obtain a free quarterly UC*Metro card. This change was made in order to prevent abuse to the program from people with invalid UC ID cards. Eventually, the terms of the program changed, requiring a small fee for these cards.

The UC*Metro deal has been renewed for the 2009-10 school year, with some additional changes:

  • The passes will now cost $40 per quarter for students, and $120 per quarter for faculty and staff.
  • Riders must now present both their UC*Metro card and a valid UC ID.
  • The passes are now only valid for rides within Metro Zone 1. If traveling to an outer zone, the rider must pay the difference between the Zone 1 fare and the normally applicable fare.
  • UC will contribute an additional $100,000 to Metro for this year’s program.
Although this year’s program is more expensive for both riders and the University, UC*Metro passes are still a good deal for UC students, faculty, and staff. Students can visit Metro’s website and use their trip planner, order your UC*Metro card, and start taking advantage of our city’s mass transit.
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Making the most of Cincinnati’s boulevards and parkways

City Parks points us to the efforts underway in New York City to make better use of the boulevards and parkways there. Cincinnati knows a thing or two about boulevards and parkways as it is cris-crossed with beautiful and relaxing drives through the city, but how wonderful are these boulevards and parkways for bicyclists and pedestrians?

In New York City, the transportation department there is working aggressively to add separated bike lanes along central medians. These dedicated lanes offer two separate lanes – one for each direction of bicycle traffic. At the same time public officials are looking to plant more trees and install additional benches and garden areas within those median spaces.

Locally a great example for this would be Central Parkway. Central Parkway is one of the beautiful routes through the city and is a delight to use as a motorist with the established trees, soft curves, and romantic lighting schemes. Many bicyclists see Central Parkway as a great route for bicyclists looking to avoid the hilly landscape between the Uptown neighborhoods and Downtown-area neighborhoods in the basin.

LEFT: Pike Street in NYC being equipped with bicycle lanes, plaza spaces, and has preserved its trees (Photo from StreetsBlog). RIGHT: Central Parkway in Cincinnati’s downtown was recently redone with new trees, wider medians, planters, new lighting, and plenty of grass to go around (Photo from Queen City Survey).

There is a problem though. City transportation officials have cited the parkway design standards that are in place as a hurdle towards incorporating dedicated bike lanes than are physically separated from vehicular traffic. The current standards along Central Parkway call for a double row of trees along the parkway to maintain that beautiful tree cover. These standards did not apply to the recent improvements made along Central Parkway through Downtown – a project that could have easily included these dedicated lanes in addition to the trees, lighting, and other landscaping that was incorporated there.

While avoiding getting into the dirty engineering requirements for roadway design, more needs to be done to work with bicyclists and pedestrians in creating more hospitable public thoroughfares for more than just automobiles. In this case the trees probably could be preserved while also creating physically separated bike lanes. In one of the most densely populated and space-cramped cities in the world, New York City is not only providing physically separated bike lanes for each direction of bike traffic, but they’re planting more trees, adding more benches and making better use of their space.

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News Politics Transportation

UC Student Government unanimously votes to oppose Issue 9

On August 29 the University of Cincinnati Student Government Association (SGA), which represents more than 37,000 students, unanimously passed a resolution bill that opposes Issue 9, the Anti-Passenger Rail Amendment being pushed by the local special interest group COAST.

In a release, SGA’s Director of Governmental Affairs stated that, “It was important for us [students] to show our support for rail. We are constituents in the November election and our voices should be recognized.”

Sutton worked with Student Body President Tim Lolli who said, “railway systems will allow students to have a better connection with the City of Cincinnati and beyond,” and that, “the railways could be heavily utilized by students for affordable, convenient and engaging travel.”

SGA’s Director of City Relations, Tim Oliver, also helped to create the bill. “We want to have potential City Council and mayoral candidates hold open-house debates educating students about the issue,” said Oliver who goes on to say that SGA will continue its support of passenger rail in the fall. President Tim Lolli also has plans to invite organizations on-campus to speak about Issue 9 and its potential impact.

For Stronger Neighborhoods, Vote No on Issue 9