BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
I-71 looking south
Exit closes to Vine St. and Covington via Suspension Bridge.
Southbound I-71 traffic crosses over into existing northbound I-71 lanes.
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Fasten your seat belts, Greater Cincinnati motorists. The Fort Washington Way work you've been dreading starts full throttle tonight.
At 7 p.m., westbound Fort Washington Way ramps will close permanently, and two other connections between the highway and downtown will close for the next 18 months.
By Monday, westbound traffic will cross over and share the same half of the highway with eastbound traffic, with concrete barriers dividing two lanes of traffic in each direction.
"I would say to the public, they should consider westbound out of service after 7 p.m. (today)," said Sam Alfaour, an engineer with Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio who is overseeing the project for the firm.
That's when orange barrels and police cruisers will block the highway's westbound exit and entrance ramps until work crews finish installing concrete barriers to close them permanently, said Don Gindling, a city engineer who is its construction manager for the project.
Motorists traveling westbound on Fort Washington Way, or southbound on Interstate 71, should either avoid the highway completely or be aware that once they get to the Lytle Tunnel, there's no getting off downtown.
Fort Washington Way looking west
Exit at Third and Elm closes.
Ramp from Sycamore and Third closes.
Ramp from Pike Street closes.
Westbound traffic returns to normal between Race and Elm.
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Crews will reduce the portion of I-71 southbound just north of the tunnel to one lane at 7 p.m. to prepare for the crossover. The highway will remain one-lane-only until 6 a.m. Monday.
"Traffic is going to be pretty backed up," Mr. Gindling warned. Motorists traveling eastbound on Fort Washington Way, or northbound on I-71, can still take the Pete Rose Way exit to the riverfront. That ramp will be open for another year.
Cincinnati's $146.9 million Fort Washington Way project is designed to narrow the highway, which stretches from the Brent Spence Bridge through the Lytle Tunnel, and make it safer.
For all the headaches the project promises to cause motorists, city officials expect the new highway to improve Cincinnati's connection to the riverfront and free more than 14 acres of riverfront for development.
The westbound ramps that will close permanently tonight are:
- The exit ramp to Vine Street - Covington (the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge).
- The exit ramp to Elm and Third streets.
- The entrance ramp onto Fort Washington Way at Sycamore and Third streets.
- The entrance ramp onto Fort Washington Way at Pike Street.
- Two other connections to the westbound highway will close for the next 18 months:
- The loop ramp connecting I-471 northbound to westbound Fort Washington Way.
- The ramp connecting Columbia Parkway (U.S. 50) westbound to westbound Fort Washington Way.
In addition, the wide-vehicle ban -- which requires vehicles wider than 7 feet to stay off the highway -- will be enforced on westbound Fort Washington Way starting at midnight. The ban is already in force on eastbound Fort Washington Way.
While the project is under construction, four lanes of traffic -- two in each direction -- will be maintained. at all times. But the lanes will less than 10 feet wide, as opposed to the typical width of 12 feet, Mr. Alfaour said.
Particularly hard hit during the highway project will be motorists coming into downtown from the east. "If you're going westbound, you have nothing," Mr. Alfaour said.
While motorists driving eastbound from the south and west will still have the Pete Rose Way ramp to the riverfront and the Columbia Parkway ramp near One Lytle Place available, drivers heading westbound from the east will have to rely on the Sixth Street ramp.
Planners expect much more traffic on Sixth Street as a result, and have painted new stripes on the street to make four lanes available, Mr. Gindling said.
The new Eggleston Avenue ramp, scheduled to open Monday, also will be available to get drivers downtown and to the riverfront, Mr. Alfaour stressed.
Motorists at ground level won't be able to see much of the work progress over the next year. Once motorists are in the detour, their view of the work will effectively be blocked, Mr. Gindling said. "They will see a lot of dirt flying," said Jeff Wallace, a contracts administrator for the project.
Dirt on the westbound half of the highway will fly for about a year. Once the new road is almost complete, traffic will be shifted to that side of the highway so work on the eastbound half can begin. But that switch isn't scheduled to happen until July 1999.
So once this weekend's work is complete, motorists can commit to their new routes for another year, Mr. Gindling said.
"The whole idea," Mr. Alfaour said, "was not to do too many switches."
