A reader’s comment on my previous post made a great point about traffic counts and its impact on the ability to attract retail. As a result I did a little digging and came up with the following information as it relates to traffic counts in Fort Thomas (I believe these numbers are vehicles per day):
Fort Thomas Ave:
1. near Inverness at Waterworks – 3,991
2. at Highlands Middle School – 5,176
3. near the central business district at Chalfonte – 6,727
4. Midway at Tower Pl – 7,053
5. Intersection @ 445 (intersection at old Huff & Invisible Fence) – 11,092
By way of comparison – Fairfield Ave in Bellevue / Dayton:
1. between Walnut and O’fallen 12,650
2. between McKinley & Dayton 9,672
The traffic counts for Milford were a little more difficult to find as the Ohio site was not nearly as user friendly as the Kentucky site. However, it did appear that the traffic counts on US-50 (Main Street) were between 11,000 and 16,000. There is no doubt that vehicle traffic is important in attracting retail but the businesses still have to depend on local residents for support.