BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- Drivers traveling over the Ohio River on Interstate 471 already know the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is crowded at rush hour.
The question on the table tonight is whether two new bridges -- one on each side of the "Big Mac" bridge -- will alleviate traffic woes.
Some Newport residents plan to protest the $120 million proposal at a public hearing from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Newport High School, 900 E. Sixth St.
"It doesn't make good engineering sense," said Newport City Manager Jim Parsons, who thinks two new bridges would mean more traffic problems and home demolitions for Newport.
Mr. Parsons is one of the four Kentucky members on the 60-member Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments committee that is conducting tonight's hearing. The panel could vote on the bridge proposal by the new year.
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BRIDGE TRAFFIC
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Average daily number of cars traversing the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge the past 10 years:
1998 -- 72,000*
1997 -- 92,400*
1996 -- 93,100*
1995 -- 95,200*
1994 -- 107,000*
1993 -- 93,100*
1992 -- 92,300
1991 -- 75,800*
1990 -- 75,800
1989 -- 73,000*
1988 -- 68,600
*estimated Source: Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments
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The Newport bridge proposal is part of an overall plan to ease congestion in Greater Cincinnati's Eastern Corridor, which includes U.S. 50 and 52, Interstates 471 and 275, Ohio 125, Ohio 32 and Five Mile Road.
Mr. Parsons contends that the bridge plan is on the table merely because Ohio residents are protesting attempts to build another bridge over the Little Miami River, which could alleviate east-west traffic flow in Hamilton and Clermont counties.
Plans for the Newport bridges still are conceptual, so there has been no talk about which Newport and Cincinnati streets would be affected. But if the committee approves the concept, two more bridges could cross the Ohio River in about a decade.
If the committee turns it down, then the project will die and drivers on the Big Mac bridge will face worsening traffic with no relief in sight.
"Clearly the folks in Newport don't want the bridges," said Dory Montazemi, deputy executive director of OKI. "I don't blame them. But we need more capacity, pure and simple.
"The question is, do you want to expand it or do you want to stop here?"
The bridge attracts about 1,700 drivers per lane in a peak hour. That's about 100 drivers shy of the bridge's per-lane capacity. Traffic officials predict that peak-hour amount to bump up to 3,700 drivers per lane in the next 20 years.
Mr. Montazemi said that either a bridge has to be widened or transportation over the Little Miami River has to improve to ease traffic on the east side of Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, Tete Turner, chairman of the Newport Board of Education, is concerned. He doesn't know where the proposed bridges will be or whether they'll affect any of Newport's school buildings.
He plans to keep on top of the issue.
"We will get on early and track it," he said.
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