BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TRAFFIC SURGE
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Forty years ago this month, the first farm fields were cleared to make way for Interstate 275. Planners envisioned a highway that would spur development outside the city and alleviate jammed city streets.
That's happened.
And it's happened on a bigger scale than anyone imagined. The Circle Freeway was a catalyst for suburban sprawl that now spills beyond the outer beltway.
Communities along I-275 are self-sufficient. People can work, live and shop without ever venturing into Cincinnati. And so much traffic has moved out to the beltway areas that I-275 now has rush-hour traffic snarls that it was built to eliminate.
"Everyone assumed 275 would be a trigger for development," said Bill Fair, an engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) when the road was being built. "And it certainly exceeded everyone's wildest expectations. . . . What the area used to look like is inconceivable now."
It used to be farmland.
I-275 at Ohio 747
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Now, international companies such as Toyota in Northern Kentucky and Procter and Gamble in Blue Ash line the $500 million highway. Commuters can grab a gallon of gas, cruise through a drive-through or stop to dine at a sit-down restaurant off of just about any exit in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
Shoppers pass Northgate Mall, Tri-County Mall and Forest Fair Mall in just 11 miles.
Subdivisions are commonplace from Anderson Township in the east to Taylor Mill in the south. And I-275 provides easy access to riverboat gambling, state-of-the-art theaters and other entertainment not available in the city.
"It did exactly what it was supposed to do," said George Cundy, a retired ODOT engineer who was working in the right-of-way department when I-275 was in its infancy. "It opened up areas that couldn't be developed without the interstate."
But with development comes congestion.
"When they first built it, it was a really scenic drive," said Anna Bradley, of Bethel, who has lived in Clermont County for 20 years. "Now you don't see anything but cars and development."
First link is bustling
Development along I-275 is perhaps most obvious between Ohio 4 and U.S. 42 in northern Hamilton County. That's where the first stretch of highway was started in September 1958.
Smokestacks and large warehouse-style buildings give the area an industrial look in Sharonville. Springdale is crowded with stores, hotels and office parks.
"It (I-275) is a godsend from an economic standpoint," said Springdale Mayor Doyle Webster, who moved there in 1964 because I-275 let him easily commute to his downtown job. "That and the railroad is what spurred Springdale's growth."
About 11,000 people live in Springdale. But the city's population spikes to 60,000 to 80,000 people during the day when businesses and shopping centers are full.
That's meant huge tax dollars for the city. Springdale's total revenue was less than $1.6 million in 1977; it was nearly $11.3 million in 1997.
It's a scene that has been repeated in cities and counties around the beltway.
In Hebron, the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport grew nearly 20-fold in 40 years. About 20.4 million travelers passed through the airport last year. In 1958, 1.2 million people used it.
Boone County payroll taxes more than quadrupled between 1976 and 1997, from $2 million two decades ago to $9 million last year. Dearborn is the fourth-fastest-growing county in Indiana, with a nearly 36 percent increase in population between 1980 and 1997. An estimated 46,576 lived there in 1997, according to U.S. Census data.
I-275 is critical to recruiting new business, said Larry Tiettmeyer, executive director of the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce. "(I-275) connected us into the Cincinnati market a lot more than before," Mr. Tiettmeyer said. "I couldn't imagine not having it."
He has seen the chamber of commerce grow to 450 members from 87 members in 1987. He has also watched riverboat gambling bring millions of dollars into Lawrenceburg and the county since December 1996. But more development also means more traffic.
Congestion is so bad in spots that I-275 now has the problems it was intended to relieve.
John Johnson, 50, of Lawrenceburg, avoids the highway in Northern Kentucky during rush hour.
"I can run from Lawrenceburg to Madisonville as quickly on (U.S) 50 as I can on 275," said Mr. Johnson, who picks up cars for a body shop. "Traffic is 101 percent worse than when it opened." He's right.
More than 88,000 vehicles use I-275 daily in Kenton County; 15,500 used it daily in 1978, according to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet statistics.
The highest traffic counts are at Ohio 747 in Springdale and at the Sharonville city line. In 1994, more than 136,000 vehicles passed those spots in a 24-hour period, according to the most recent ODOT statistics.
And the Eastgate area sees some of the biggest bottlenecks because the interstate is only two lanes in each direction instead of three. "I try to stay off it as much as I can," said Cathy Davidson, 34, who lives on the eastern side of town. "It's worse now than it used to be."
"It's pretty bad," said Walter Mathews, 83, of Anderson Township. "And it gets worse all the time."
Ohio officials hope to widen the road to accommodate the 60,000 vehicles that use that part of the interstate daily, said Kim Patton, spokeswoman for ODOT's District 8.
Plans are in the design phase for the stretch between Ohio 32 and Five Mile Road. Studies are also under way for the area between Ohio 32 and U.S. 50.
But there is no funding for construction yet, thus no timetable for when it might begin.
Exurbs flourish past belt
The increasing traffic jams and tremendous development around the beltway are pushing businesses and homeowners beyond the 275 loop.
"As usual, you should have had it a little farther out than it was," said Joe Kearnes, chief district engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. He was with the department when I-275 was being built.
For now, there are no plans to build more outer beltways.
"The era of building highways is over," said Mrs. Patton. "Money is the primary reason."
Fear of even more urban sprawl is another reason.
While areas such as Dearborn County and parts of Northern Kentucky still have room for development, older areas of Hamilton County are filling up.
"We are pretty much built out," said Derrick Parham, Springdale's assistant city administrator.
In Springdale, businesses are now redeveloping areas, he said. For example, an old Kroger candy factory was converted to Roberds Grand furniture store and a Dave and Buster's restaurant and entertainment complex. But often, developers are looking to counties and cities farther outside the beltway.
Boone County -- which I-275 cuts through -- had the fastest growth rate in the Tristate in 1997, according to census data released earlier this year. Hamilton County continued to lose population. But some of the biggest gains are starting to show up in Cincinnati's "exurbs," counties not adjacent to Hamilton County and beyond the beltway.
Grant County, Ky. is the area's second-fastest growing county. Its population increased 26 percent, to 19,828 in 1997 from 15,737 in 1990.
Gallatin County, Ky. is the Tristate's third-fastest growing. There was a 25.6 percent increase in population from 1990 to 1997: 5,393 people to 6,771 people.
Population growth in Brown and Adams counties in Ohio outpaced growth in Butler County between 1990 and 1997, a high-growth area just north of Hamilton County and close to I-275.
"It always does go beyond what you expect," Mr. Cundy said. But the outward growth is what planners had in mind when I-275 was a part of the 1948 Cincinnati Metropolitan Plan, said Zane Miller, University of Cincinnati history professor.
Based on that, I-275 is working 40 years after construction started.
"It decongested the population," Mr. Miller said. "And it worked in the sense that it is easy to get around. There are moments of congestion, but the highways haven't become congested the way they have in Chicago where you can't get from the airport to downtown quickly."
PH:Enquirer file photo
In 1959, work continues on the northern portion of Interstate 275. The land cleared south of the interstate is for Tri-County Mall. PH:Glenn Hartong - The Cincinnati Enquirer -->
Shops, businesses and homes fill the land north and south of Interstate 275 at Ohio 747. At lower right is the northern corner of Tri-County Mall.
