Cincinnati City Council has voted to oppose the current proposal for a rebuilt I-75/Hopple Street interchange, which they say would cause visual destruction to an important gateway into Uptown.
In a resolution passed last week, council has asked the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to study how the proposed construction project will affect existing businesses, and to develop an alternative proposal that would keep the intersection of Hopple Street and Central Parkway at-grade and business impacts to a minimum.
"The intersection of Hopple Street and Central Parkway is a major gateway into Uptown, Cincinnati's second largest employment area, a shopping and entertainment destination, and home to many of the City's largest and most important institutions, including the University of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Zoo, and several of the city's largest hospitals," the resolution says.
As Phase 4 of the Mill Creek Expressway project, the $117 million reconstruction project would rebuild I-75 from between the Western Hills Viaduct to the Monmouth Street overpass.
As designed, Hopple Street would connect with W Martin Luther King Drive via a bridge over Central Parkway, with a flyover connector curving down to the parkway approximately in the area of W McMicken Avenue.
The northbound off-ramp would be relocated to a right-side exit, meeting Hopple Street between the interstate and the connector.
The resolution says that the intersection needs to be a gateway that is visually commensurate with the importance of the Uptown neighborhoods.
"The current proposal for the Hopple Street/I-75 Interchange will create a series of ramps and bridges that will block view lines, destroy the character of the parkway, and change the vsual orientation of the Hopple Street/Central Parkway Intersection from an urban crossroads to one dominated by expressway ramps," it says.
The City is hoping to use a federal earmark funds for additional studies and alternatives that would not include a flyover connection to Central Parkway.
Copies of the resolution have been sent to Governor Ted Strickland, all Cincinnati members of the Ohio General Assembly, director of ODOT Jim Beazley, and ODOT project manager Stefan Spinosa.
The project team is currently preparing the first draft of the environmental document, and a public hearing on the preferred alternative is scheduled for later this year.
Construction on Phase 4 is scheduled for between 2013 and 2015.
Image credit: I-75 Mill Creek Expressway
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Cincinnati council opposes I-75/Hopple plans
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7 comments:
Saving businesses is fine, but are we really worried about losing that cheap motel and the White Castle's?
I think I am in favor of the flyover to get better access to UC.
I think their point is that by having Hopple bridge over Central Parkway and then connect to it, it diminishes the importance of Central Parkway. And, as you know, this is a City that takes pride in its urban parkways.
That said, I fail to see how they can move the exit ramp to the right side and in any way avoid creating a mess there. If they somehow built an exit that dumped out onto Central Parkway, then Camp Washington would object to losing the direct connection.
I'm glad I don't have that job!
Why does Cincinnati always oppose smart ideas like building this new interchange, improving access to UC and cleaning up the messy intersection on Central Parkway? I hope it gets built.
That intersection needs something. Thing is, it only is really busy at rush hours Mon - Fri.
The overpass plan would help blight the area 24/7. Look down the Parkway at the Brighton Approach & multiply that a few times.
I sure don't mind losing that hotel, it's a shame to keep jerking White Castle around, looks like the quickie lube place is history as well as a few old houses on McMicken. I can't tell what will happen to the church to the north. Will it be demolished or just blighted to hell ?
One thing is for sure, it will be a nightmare for peds and cyclists navigating entrance and exit ramps as the brain dead cage pilots sail through. Hope they are planning lots of stairways, too.
taestell...they are not opposing the interchange, they are opposing the design.
You can bet that they are 100% behind having an interchange there.
I live on W. Mcmicken Ave. and originally tried to sell my house about 3 years ago. But, I could not because the ODOT "might" take the house for the 75 expressway projects. this kept me from selling my house. For the next 2 years i kept getting the run around on what was going to happen, when they were going to buy my house, they promised to buy it and then chose not too because I was no longer in the "guidelines" which I found out are not written down "guidelines" but were really what ever they choose to say in the office. I finally got a letter that said that they were officially going to take the house, but they have continued to change the dates in which the acquisition was going to happen. Lawyers tell me that there is nothing that I can do, because the acquisition stuff is soooo shady anyway. Don't get me started
Sorry to hear that, Scott. It sounds like you got caught in a bureaucratic mess that's kind of left you in limbo. I do wish you luck.
It would be great if they could just take your house so that you can move on with your life. But looking at the project schedules (at least the ones I have seen, which may have changed), it didn't look like they were going to start property acquisitions until 2010.
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