BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
This time next year, motorists could be traveling on a new two-way Vine Street -- and some long-time Cincinnatians may have a certain sense of deja vu.
Cincinnati City Council Wednesday voted 5-4 to convert the one-way Vine Street to a two-way, as it had been been before the 1970s. Concerns over safety prompted the city to convert it to a one-way street.
A bloc of local businesses won out on the contentious issue, arguing that Vine Street had become a speedway for motorists.
Their philosophy is that the soon-to-be two-way Vine Street, from Central Parkway to McMicken Avenue, would become a thoroughfare for the local residents and those doing business in the area.
Right now, some business leaders consider it a blighted stretch that simply carries traffic from the downtown north to the bustling Clifton neighborhood.
Meantime, residents continue to argue against the conversion, believing there will be more accidents, and make it more difficult for school children to traverse the area. They said they will try to get the decision reversed.
City officials said that traffic flow has been an issue since Vine Street was converted to one-way. In 1995, the issue gained some momentum when Mayor Roxanne Qualls proposed converting the street to a two-way.
After more than an hour of debate Wednesday, Mayor Qualls, Jeanette Cissell, James Tarbell, Tyrone Yates and Phil Heimlich voted to convert the street to two-way.
Council members Minette Cooper, Todd Portune, Dwight Tillery and Charles Winburn voted against the measure.
Mr. Tillery said he was "troubled" that community groups within Over-the-Rhine were obviously at odds. The Over-the-Rhine Community Council wanted to keep Vine Street one-way while the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, whose membership includes business along the corridor, favored converting the road to two-way. "What happened today is no victory; it just lays the groundwork for future battles," he said.
He called on council and the city administration to help mend fences.
For now, the city will get to work on converting the street and finding about $400,000 to do it. The street should be converted sometime in fall 1999.
Planning to convert the one-mile stretch of northbound traffic to a two-way could take until next spring, said Dave Rupe, a supervising engineer in the city's traffic engineering division.
The plan is for the road to be one-lane in each direction and for round-the-clock street parking.
Mr. Rupe said the conversion plans do not call for street-widening because most buildings are simply too close to the sidewalk and street.
"Widening is not feasible because there's no room," he said. He said plans still are sketchy about the conversion to two-way, but some of the obvious changes include:
- Adjusting traffic lights at every signalized intersection to accommodate southbound traffic.
- Removing all the one-way signs.
- Making curbside changes, such as readjusting parking meters and parking spaces to accommodate southbound traffic.
