Covington is considering closing down a portion of the Riverfront Commons Trails to allow vehicle and machinery access for the Brent Spence project.
The Covington City Commission heard a proposal from the city’s administration department on Tuesday that, if approved, would accept a de minimis impact statement from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the U.S. Department of Transportation. This statement essentially affirms the corridor project’s commitment to cause as little damage to the trails and the surrounding area as possible during the relevant construction.
The question was placed on the regular agenda for next week’s meeting, meaning the commission will discuss it further before casting a final vote.
“This came about as we [the city] were having discussions earlier this year with KYTC about routes of construction traffic down by the riverfront,” said Covington’s Director of Special Projects Liz Wetzel. “They would be offloading a lot of materials during construction from barges, and it would be located at the Pete Rose Pier area at Scribble Park, which would necessitate the crossing of the Riverfront Commons Trail. It became apparent, clearly apparent, that there was no way to maintain that area of the trail safely with construction traffic continuously crossing the path.”
A letter from the U.S. Department of Transportation lays out the work in more detail: “To facilitate safe construction of a new companion bridge and the rehabilitation of the existing [bridge], approximately 0.8 miles of the Riverfront Commons Trail will be temporarily closed or detoured during periods of highway and bridge construction. Based on safety concerns shared by the City of Covington, this also includes closure of access to the area east of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, starting near the intersection of West 2nd Street and Main Street, to approximately 150 feet west of Covington Plaza.”
The Riverfront Commons is a 20-mile trail network, currently at various stages of construction, that connects the main river cities in the region, namely Covington, Bromley, Ludlow, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Fort Thomas and Silver Grove.
About 1.25 miles of the trail is already finished and open in Covington along Highway Avenue and the Ohio River levee from the end of the Ohio River floodwall near Swain Court to just east of the Roebling Bridge at Riverside Place. The city manages the part of the trail that falls within the corridor project’s construction area.
“Approximately 0.4 miles of the Riverfront Commons trail between the Ohio River levee gate and the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge will be temporarily covered with 5 feet to 12 feet of aggregate fill to construct a temporary access road,” the Department of Transportation letter reads.
The section of trail is expected to be closed for about 60 months starting this summer, according to the letter, and a one-mile trail detour will be set up along Rivercenter Boulevard, West 3rd Street and Highway/Crescent Avenue.
Wetzel said the agreement included “terms for reconstructing the trail that will necessarily be damaged by construction traffic going over it, especially under the companion bridge area and when they reconstruct the current Brent Spence Bridge.”
People were allowed to leave public comments on the matter before Tuesday’s meeting.
“We received 70-plus individual emails,” said Stacee Hans of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “Some of those were duplicates. I will say that we did receive over 100 emails, and those were all taken into consideration.”
Some concerns expressed by the public included the following:
- the timing of the trail closure
- safety along the planned detour, namely a desire to expand the detour path to at least 10 to 12 feet, along with safety and noise barriers between trail travelers and the construction
- clear detour signage
- ensuring that all parties were adequately informed of closures prior to the opening of the temporary trail; this concern was expressed by both Tri-State Trails and Southbank Partners, the latter of whom is leading the Riverfront Commons project
- ensuring that the trail would be restored to its original state after the construction
The trail detour will be able to handle both foot and cycling traffic and will be rolled out in phases.
The letter ends with the Department of Transportation stating there will be a de minimis impact on the Riverfront Commons after the construction, followed by a signature from the Daniel Peake, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s director of environmental analysis agreeing to the terms laid out in the letter. The city will vote on the matter on April 22.