Cincinnati streetcar advocates are spurring discussion on both sides of the river about potential expansion routes, including an idea for a route across the river into Northern Kentucky.
Proponents presented their ideas last night at a public forum held at the First Lutheran Church in Over-the-Rhine. About 300 people attended the event hosted by the Coalition for Transit and Sustainable Development of Greater Cincinnati, a program of the Covington-based Devou Good Foundation.
One of the ideas presented was called The Kentucky Corridor, and would take the streetcar across the river from downtown over the Taylor Southgate Bridge and into Newport, about 1.6 miles.
Organizers were careful to say the forum was an early attempt to garner interest and gather public reaction and input into nine expansion ideas.
“Our objective today is not to make the case for building nine streetcar lines,” said Galen Gordon, a member of the coalition and emcee for the event. “We’re trying to get a consensus on which line we believe as a community should be built next.”
He noted that funding would not be discussed, and the forum was one of several ways the group would gather information, including surveys, input on Facebook, and other meetings. The idea, he said, was to narrow down to one or two of the most popular and feasible to present to the Cincinnati Cty Council and other local leaders.
The Kentucky Corridor
Daniella Beltran, an urban designer with Cincinnati-based Yard and Co, noted that of the nine route ideas, five could be accomplished sooner with enough interest and funding. Four of the ideas would need further exploration and would need to integrate into current construction projects and plans already in the works, she said.
Of these, a route into Northern Kentucky would be closely tied to bridges and other river area projects underway. The Kentucky Corridor, as the advocates called it, would take the streetcar across the river from downtown over the Taylor Southgate Bridge and into Newport, about 1.6 miles. It could then travel over the Fourth Street Bridge into Covington, adding another mile to the route.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has selected final designs for the KY-8 Bridge replacement project, which connects Newport and Covington across the Licking River. The current bridge is not up to modern standards and is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The replacement project has been in development for nearly 10 years and includes a public input period. However, much debate has ensued about the design of the new bridge, especially as it relates to the number of lanes it ought to have, the amount of traffic it will handle in the face of new developments and how well it will fit into the future of regional transport. Read more.
The 4th Street Bridge: What do the numbers say?
John Schneider, a retired redeveloper and longtime streetcar advocate, spoke on challenges and considerations of the different routes. He outlined challenges of size and weight of modern streetcars and systems that can affect the length and feasibility of potential routes. He described some of the thinking behind why some ideas for routes were chosen over others.
“We have tried not to duplicate other projects or conflict with designs we know are happening,” he said.
One example he gave was the Cincinnati Metro’s plan to add bus rapid transit routes that would make duplication by streetcar routes unnecessary. He also cited plans by the city of Cincinnati to add bike lanes on some streets, as well as problems with having enough space to add streetcar stops on both sides of busy streets.
He spoke of the bridge projects now underway. As Beltran noted, he said, four of the potential routes would require completion and integration with those projects. This pushes work on those routes, including the Kentucky route, out farther into the future than others.
He urged the audience to push leaders for design accommodations now that could make future rail more feasible.
“We need to design these four bridges to accept rail. If we don’t do it now, it’ll be incredibly expensive to do later or it won’t get done, because it would be too disruptive or maybe impossible if the bridge is not structurally designed for it,” Schneider said.
Bridges can be built with what he called “sacrificial slabs,” a process that involves pouring a frame of concrete, letting that harden, and adding concrete inside the frame. This interior section could later be jackhammered out and rails could be added at that time.
“Right now. One of the routes you are going to see is going to connect Newport and Covington if the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet builds that bridge over Fourth Street with sacrificial slabs,” he said. “If they don’t do it, I don’t think Covington will ever see streetcars.”
The nine ideas
Erin Graham, an architect with Covington-based Huber + Weber, presented the nine ideas. The company, specializing in adaptive reuse projects, provided maps of each idea. Audience members were invited to view them set up in a community room, and were encouraged to leave comments or add them online through a QR code provided.
The other route ideas were:
— The Mohawk route, mostly along McMicken Avenue
— The West End route, north and south along Linn Street
— The Camp Washington Corridor, along Central and Colerain avenues
— The Clifton/Walnut Hills route, along Calhoun Street, East McMillan and William Howard Taft
— The Downtown-Uptown route along Reading Road to Corryville
— The Ezzard Charles Corridor, across I-75 to the Cincinnati Museum Center (Union Terminal)
— The South Fairmont route, across the Western Hills Viaduct to loop around the Lick Run Greenway
— The Queensgate route, along Broadway to I-75
Organizers were asked how long it might take before the routes could be open to the public. The five routes not tied to bridge or other construction projects, if they had the funding and buy in, could possibly be open in about five years, they said.
The survey and all the route maps are available on the Sustainability Cincy website.