BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A 60-member task force will review a new plan Tuesday to help traffic flow in the Eastern Corridor, stretching from downtown Cincinnati to Batavia and from Interstate 471 in Northern Kentucky to Milford.
The new plan, presented by URS Greiner consultants, will include widening several main thoroughfares, building an Ohio 32 "bypass" around Newtown, and adding two bridges alongside the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge to accommodate new lanes for Interstate 471.
OKI is planning the traffic improvement systems in what it describes as the Eastern Corridor, where 425,000 vehicles travel daily on U.S. 50 and 52, Interstates 471 and 275, Ohio 125, Ohio 32 and Five Mile Road.
According to the proposal, Ohio 32 would be four lanes, from the Clermont County line to Beechmont Avenue. The road would skirt Newtown's northern edge, cutting across a park area before connecting to Beechmont. The Beechmont Levee would be widened to six lanes, going north across the Little Miami River.
"This eliminates a controversial plan suggested before, which involved building another bridge across the Little Miami River near Red Bank Road," said Dory Montazemi, deputy director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI).
The modified plan does not include an earlier proposal to extend Five Mile Road northward to connect with Ohio 32 northwest of Newtown. Anderson Township residents have voiced opposition to rerouting Ohio 32 and extending Five Mile.
Other traffic improvements to be considered include:
Commuter rail service, from downtown east to I-275, using the Oasis rail line. The Oasis line, starting from downtown, would connect with the Norfolk Southern rail line in Fairfax.
Adding a lane in both directions on I-275 between Five Mile Road and U.S. 52, widening a section of I-471, Red Bank Road, Clough Pike, Wilmer Avenue and Wooster Pike.
Expanded busways; a new route on Ohio 32 from Beechmont Avenue to Batavia; from Madison Road following Plainville Road, U.S. 50, Newtown Road, Church Street, Clough Pike and Five Mile Road to I-275; along Beechmont Avenue and Mount Carmel-Tobasco Road.
Mr. Montazemi said with the widening of I-275 and I-471, planners are considering adding two bridges over the Ohio River, east and west of the Beard bridge, also known as the "Big Mac."
"The big problem is that people entering 471 from Eighth Street in Newport have to go all the way to the left lane to get to I-71," Mr. Montazemi said. "This causes traffic to back up as far south as Fort Thomas. A bridge for the northbound traffic could eliminate that problem. The way the Big Mac is built, we cannot widen it." Another bridge would be built on the west side of the Big Mac to handle the southbound traffic into Kentucky, exiting onto Eighth Street, Mr. Montazemi said.
Studies of population growth in the corridor indicate that if traffic improvements are not made by 2020, traffic jams will cause an estimated total of 11,903 hours of delayed time each day during the two-hour morning rush time.
If the plans are approved Tuesday, Mr. Montazemi said OKI will begin a series of public hearings. It could be a year or more before the plans are approved by an OKI executive committee. The plans then would be submitted to federal highway officials for funding.
