BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- Residents say they know what's best for their community, and that doesn't include two new bridges connecting Newport and downtown Cincinnati.
That was stressed when they gathered Thursday night at Newport High School to talk about the possibility of a new, three-lane bridge to flank each side of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
The bridges would be expected to ease congested traffic on the Interstate 471 bridge over the Ohio River. But Newport residents think that officials proposing the two bridges have no comprehension of how they would affect their community.
Only three homes would be demolished for bridge construction, but residents say entire neighborhoods would be affected by an increase in noise, traffic and pollution.
They also are concerned that residents would flee to the suburbs to escape these effects. They contend it would destroy Newport's rebounding downtown and leave it with the label of an "inner city." "Something needs to be done. There's no doubt about that," Dennis Mittendorf said at the hearing. But "I don't particularly care to jeopardize the quality of life in my community to improve the quality of life" in Hamilton and Clermont counties in Ohio. Thursday's hearing was the last of three this week. The transportation planning agency Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) conducted them to get feedback on an overall plan to lessen congestion in Greater Cincinnati's Eastern Corridor. It includes U.S. 50 and 52, Interstates 471 and 275, Ohio 125, Ohio 32 and Five Mile Road.
OKI officials have said a new bridge over the Little Miami River or Ohio River is a must for any real improvements.
But William R. Jones of Newport doesn't care what officials have to say. He said that two new bridges aren't worth the problems they would cause. He knows that just from living in the area.
"I don't know anything about engineering. I don't know anything about modeling. I just drive these streets," he said before the audience greeted his comments with laughter and applause.
A 60-member OKI task force, which includes only four Northern Kentucky representatives, will use feedback from the hearings when they vote on the overall plan. That could happen within three months.
If the task force approves the plan, the Newport bridges could be built in about a decade. If it doesn't, drivers on the I-471 bridge, known as the Big Mac Bridge for its golden arches, will have no recourse but to wait in traffic.
"If the city of Newport doesn't want it and you don't want it, it's not going to happen," Dory Montazemi, OKI's deputy executive director, said at the hearing. However, "if nothing is done, the bridge will become a major problem."
He said daily traffic counts on the Big Mac Bridge tally about 100,000, which already meet the bridge's daily capacity.
Plans for the Newport bridges still are conceptual, so there has been no talk about which Newport and Cincinnati streets would be affected. A price tag of about $142 million now is being associated with the project. Federal grants would finance 80 percent of the cost.
