These Covington streets could be converted from one-way to two-way

As the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans for the resurfacing of 11th and 12th streets in Covington, officials are also considering whether to convert the streets from one-way to two-way.

District 6 Chief Engineer Bob Yeager gave updates on the project this week to the Covington Board of Commissioners. Both roads are currently state owned.

“As we look at our resurfacing program – and 11th and 12th Street is due to be resurfaced – we’re looking at whether or not we can actually convert that back to the way they originally were designed, and that’s to make them two ways,” Yeager said.

While Yeager gave a similar presentation last week to the Eastside+ neighborhood organization, the presentation to the commission served as a publicly facing update.

Yeager had informed attendees to last week’s meeting that 11th Street could return to city ownership. This meant the city could manage 11th Street “however you would like it,” he told the commissioners, information that was not immediately clear at least week’s meeting.

The streets are currently one-way roads, with traffic moving in opposite directions.

The conversion of 12th Street, also known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, would restrict state traffic (i.e., traffic back and forth between Newport and Covington) to that street and the Girl Scout Bridge. Ideally, Yeager argued, this would have the effect of slowing down traffic between the cities.

The most recent average daily traffic count KYTC performed put the average daily traffic on 12th Street at 11,932 vehicles.

Yeager also discussed other traffic calming measures that could eventually be implemented on 12th Street, most notably plans to install a stop sign (in both directions) at the end of 12th Street just before people enter the bridge.

The commissioners had questions.

“Do you see any other cost the city would take on with this project?” Commissioner Tim Acri asked.

“Yes, you’d be maintaining it,” Yeager said, although he pointed out that the city is already maintaining state roads through Covington due to an agreement with the cabinet, “so there won’t be much chance there,” he said, adding that traffic on 11th Street would likely be reduced.

Commissioner Tim Downing asked about how changes could affect people’s ability to find alternative routes in the city and the possibility of clogged residential streets.

“Most people are going to take the shortest route, especially those not familiar [with the city]…,” Yeager said. “I think what you’ll find is that in most cases they’re going to frequent 12th Street if they’re going 12th Street now, and they’ll frequent 12th Street when they were taking 11th Street before because that’ll be the straightest route.” Now, obviously, if it backed up on 12th Street, they could go over to 11th if it’s two ways, and you can still get some of that traffic there. But, again, those patterns are going to blend themselves out.”

Covington resident James Toebbe asked about the possibility of speed bumps.

“I don’t mind looking at those,” Yeager said, although he pointed out they can present some issues for snow control in the winter, and they can be noisy.

Toebbe also asked generally about safety.

“We had a resident that was struck and killed back at the end of July on Highway Avenue,” Toebbe said. “We’ve had a few residents killed on Winston Avenue. My neighbor was struck and hit from a driver failing to yield on Winston and 43rd just a week and a half ago. Is there any conversations around any of these other streets?”

Yeager said there had actually been a number of accidents on Highway Avenue, to the point they had considered removing parking altogether from the street to reduce the possibility of collisions.

“We’d be glad to work with you on that,” Yeager said.

Mayor Ron Washington wanted to know about plans for bicycle lanes.

“Can you talk about the the plans for the bicycle lane on the 12th Street Bridge?” Washington said.

“We will propose that we have a bike lane on each side of the current bridge, that we take and make the bridge two lanes of traffic, as well,” Yeager said. “That gives us about 16 feet extra on either side to do a number of different things.”

Under this proposal, Yeager said, there would be a two-foot buffer between the bike lane and the travel lane for cars. The sidewalk would remain where it is.

Washington encouraged any Covington residents with questions, comments or concerns about the conversion to send them to the commissioners so they could have informed conversations about the conversions as they progressed. You can find their contact information at covingtonky.gov/government/mayor-and-commission.

You can also watch Yeager’s full presentation and the conversation between the commissioners at the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky’s Facebook page.