Cincinnati City Council has passed unanimously an ordinance authorizing the City to enter into a local public agency (LPA) agreement with the --> --> --> for the West Martin Luther King Jr. Improvements Project.
The $9.9 million project will address safety issues by improving the S-curve, improving the W Martin Luther King Jr./Clifton intersection, and installing a dedicated bike lane.
The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments will provide $7.9 million for the project. Department of Transportation and Engineering capital improvement program project accounts will fund the balance of the cost.
Scheduled to begin in 2016, the project is currently in the conceptual design phase.
Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati taking action on roadway improvements (11/3/09)
Art Bridges
6 hours ago
7 comments:
This seems like it will be a massive project that will require lots of eminent domain use. I'm not sure the S-curve there is all that dangerous, but I guess if there's money to burn on making nominal road improvements while also relocating dozens of residential properties then why not.
I agree with Randy Simes. When can we get logical with the cost/benefit ratio? I say now would be a good time!
In addition to the cost comment. Who rides a bike up that hill? If they do then perhaps using a less traveled road like Straight or Marshall. Do the most illogical streets to use bikes need to be made bike friendly? Idiocy!
Let us not forget that the plan is also to remove the traffic-light-managed intersection at MLK/Hopple & Central Parkway. It is already somewhat of a through-way anyhow on account of the inability to turn left onto Central from WB MLK (which many motorists ignore anyhow).
The new configuration proposal is to make MLK be less steep by having it overpass Central Pkwy and meet Hopple st. at-grade much further out (past I-75), and provide access to Central Pkwy and I-75 via exit ramps, rather than an intersection.
I'm not exactly sure how that is supposed to improve access in the vicinity of that area. It seems to me more like a proposal which would improve access for through-traffic at the expense of local traffic. That said, one of the eminent domain claims would be the notorious motel there, and a lot of people are happy with that.
I've been writing the city a lot to convince them of the need to better connect University Heights with that district down there through pedestrian stairs and try and figure out a way to preserve vehicular access to the southern end of the neighborhood that is currently served via McMicken/Riddle and would be lost in the present design. Currently, due to traffic patterns in the area, at key times of the day the only viable exit routes from UH can be McMicken (NB) and Marshall (SB), due to the Uptown commuter traffic.
What you're talking about Coleman is not part of this specific project. That will be a part of the I-75 project that is to come later, but these figures are tied to the Clifton to W. McMicken stretch of MLK.
I can't wait for the "decade of construction" that will be the 2010's.
Perhaps I don't understand the purpose of this contract nor do I think the designers of the connection between MLK and Central Parkway understood the purpose of the connection, which I would have thought would have been to move vehicles in a safe and efficient manner. The Dixsmythe design was just stupid and lacked any creative thought.
I would have thought it was to move vehicles from Pill Hill and Madison Road and UC to I-75. What is wrong with having a straight line as the intended projection and what is the fear of tunnels? One need only to look at a map to determine where the road should have gone. The roller-coaster/gymkhana that was created is ridiculous.
It is also an extremely incident of poor urban planning. The Dixsmyth section of the connection has had devastating effect on the apartment houses that were built along that street before the "improvements". I am not saying the building of apartments was a good thing but it was at least tolerable. The connection has managed to create a near slum.
Dieter Schmied
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