A contingent of Covington residents and others from around the Greater Cincinnati region packed the Covington commission chambers Tuesday night to voice concerns about the recently published concept designs for the 4th Street bridge replacement project.
Speakers asked commission members to lobby the state transport cabinet for a bridge with three traffic lanes instead of four, dedicated infrastructure for electric rail and for a single-phase construction plan among related concerns.
The bridge is state-owned and funded. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, or KYTC, the agency responsible for the project, is collecting feedback from city representatives, Matt Butler, president of the Devou Good Foundation, said at a previous meeting that he didn’t think commissioners and city staff were adequately advocating for the desires of local residents.
“I implore [the commission] to make a prudent choice that safeguards our community’s integrity, ensures the safety of all travelers and respects the wishes of the people you represent,” Butler said.
Butler argued three main points, which others who addressed the commission would reaffirm throughout the night: The bridge should have three traffic lanes instead of four. There should be space for electric rail on the bridge. And finally, the construction of the bridge should take place in a single phase rather than spaced out over multiple phases like the current Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans.
To make his case, Butler pointed to a statement from Mike Bezold, a transportation cabinet project manager who presented at the prior week’s meeting, and said that all four concept designs furnished by the cabinet’s contracted architect would likely go over the projected $68 million budget.
Reducing traffic lanes to three would help save money, he said.
As it relates to the rail, Butler asked the commission to be, at least, “open to the possibility of future streetcars,” saying that an extra layer on the bridge, which could later be converted into rails, could be built with little additional cost.
Finally, Butler asked the commission to advocate for “the complete tear-down and rebuild of the new bridge,” all in one single process, adding that shuttles could be furnished for the non-car-owning pedestrians who rely on the bridge for traversal between Newport and Covington. Like the reduction in lanes, Butler argued this would be a cost saving measure.
The audience applauded as Butler concluded his statement.
At last week’s meeting, KYTC presented the four concept designs their contracted architects had recently produced. Although each version uses a different mechanism for supporting the bridge, they all share the same rough dimensions: four traffic lanes with 12-foot paths for walking and cycling on either side. Representatives from the cabinet said they hoped to choose a final bridge concept by the end of October.
In their presentation, KYTC said that the decision for four traffic lanes was based on a traffic study they’d commissioned in 2016 as well as other data modeling, which they said suggested an increase in traffic in the coming years due to development projects in Newport and Covington.
Moreover, their decision to use a multi-phase construction plan, they said, would allow for smoother re-routing of utilities on the bridge as well as continued access for pedestrians. According to the bridge project’s website, “more than 700 pedestrians cross the KY 8 Licking River Bridge every day.”
Butler and others at the meeting took issue with much of this reasoning, frequently casting doubt on the cabinet’s traffic projections. They pointed to minutes from KYTC meetings where cabinet staff said that the current bridge configuration could adequately support future traffic, for instance.
Cody Chitwood, who serves on Covington’s Architectural and Review Board and works as an architect with Hub + Weber, the firm Devou Good contracted to draft their own vision for the bridge, said that “a four-lane bridge serving the existing urban fabric doesn’t work.”
“The 12th Street Bridge is great example of that,” Chitwood said. “The off-road connection that is created in Covington by that bridge makes it really the least desirable crossing in Northern Kentucky.”
Another Hub + Weber architect, Erin Graham, said that KYTC’s designs failed to properly account for the safety of pedestrians, especially at intersections coming into town.
“I’m someone who uses this bridge daily,” Graham said. “If you’re a pedestrian, you’re always at a disadvantage. If you’re not paying attention, you’re getting hurt. If a driver is not paying attention, you can get hurt. If you allow this bridge–a four-lane bridge–going from one neighborhood to another neighborhood, it’s not an I told you so moment if someone gets hurt. [It’s] we knew better, and we didn’t do anything about it.”
Gina Estes, who brought a box of petitions from local people to give to the commission, reiterated many of the other speakers’ points about traffic and safety but also took a moment to say that just because people were critical of the bridge concepts didn’t mean they were “anti-development.”
“I love Covington; that’s why I’m here, and I think you do too because you’re serving on this commission,” Estes said. “I’m so grateful for all Covington’s progress, and I support it. Recognizing the fact that a fourth lane is not needed does not mean Covington is against development or progress… Through all of our progress, we are preserving and building on as much of our wonderful history as we possibly can and that we are attending to the quality of life of everyone.”
The meeting’s 30-minute time limit for public comments ran out before everyone who signed up to speak could address the commission, and several speakers yielded their time.
The commissioners did not respond to the public comments.
The next Covington Commission meeting will take place on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. at Covington City Hall. It will be a caucus meeting, so it will not have a dedicated time for public comments.
The Devou Good Foundation and its supporters plan to make similar statements at the Newport Commission meeting on Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Newport City Building, where KYTC is planning on presenting the bridge concepts to Newport.
For more information on 4th Street Bridge project, visit ky8bridge.org or email the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at info@ky8bridge.org.
Leave public comments related to the bridge for KYTC officials by using their online contact form.