Cincinnati City Council last Wednesday passed an ordinance allowing the City to accept up to $12 million in federal funding for construction of the Kennedy Connector road project in Oakley.

The funding, Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality grants awarded through the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, will be supplemented with $3 million in City local matching funds from an un-appropriated surplus in an urban renewal capital improvement project account.

The City also will enter into two Local Public Agency agreements with the --> --> --> for the project's first two phases, a condition of receiving federal funding.

The Kennedy Connector will consist of a new, half-mile roadway connecting the , with improved access to I-71 and westbound Norwood Lateral (S.R. 562).

Additional improvements include the realignment of Ibsen Avenue, intersection realignments at five locations, new sidewalks, tree lawns, and retaining walls.

Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2012, with completion in November 2013.

The Kennedy Connector is expected to ease congestion along Ridge Road. Studies have found that peak hourly traffic volumes on Ridge Avenue and Duck Creek Road exceed the reasonable capacity of the roadways, and future development in the area, such as the proposed Oakley Station, is expected to cause even more congestion.

These heavy traffic volumes have been cited as the cause of the majority of accidents at the intersection of Highland and Ridge avenues, one of the top five accident-prone intersections in Hamilton County.

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati to apply for federal transportation grants (4/1/10)
Oakley open house shows Kennedy Connector preferred alternative (6/25/09)