BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Expect morning rush hour on Columbia Parkway to be a mess again today and Wednesday as thousands of Eastern Avenue commuters look for an alternate route into downtown.
Water-main work on Eastern scheduled to be done over the weekend dragged into Monday's rush hour, creating a parking lot on Columbia Parkway. Eastern will be closed again today and Wednesday while crews rebuild the road between Whittaker and Baines streets.
Much of the Eastern traffic will move to Columbia Parkway -- where the nearly 42,000 daily commuters already are plagued by road construction.
"It's not going to be an easy trip," said Gary Herzner, Cincinnati traffic engineer. "Leave a little earlier."
The city will try to alleviate some pressure on Columbia Parkway by keeping an extra lane open through the parkway's construction area.
Usually, three lanes on Columbia funnel into one at Martin Drive. But over the next couple of days, the city will pull aside some orange barrels so traffic goes to two lanes, Mr. Herzner said.
Mr. Herzner suggests commuters consider taking Interstate 275 to Interstate 471 or consider turning off Columbia Parkway at Kemper Lane, William Howard Taft Road or Delta Avenue and mapping out city streets into downtown.
The Eastern Avenue project was not expected to drag into this week. Crews started tying in a new 60-inch water main at 9 a.m. Friday and planned to be done by 6 a.m. Monday, said Mark A. Raffenberg, project engineer for Cincinnati Water Works.
But digging deep in the two center lanes of the four-lane roadway and using heavy equipment caused the outer lanes to begin "sloughing," he said. Now, all four lanes are being replaced.
Eastern Avenue is scheduled to reopen at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Until then:
- Westbound, Eastern Avenue will be closed between Stanley and Eggleston avenues. Traffic will be detoured on Stanley to Columbia Parkway to the Eggleston Avenue exit. Drivers can get into downtown by taking Eggleston south to westbound Pete Rose Way.
- Eastbound, Eastern Avenue will be closed at Eggleston and detoured on Eggleston to eastbound Columbia Parkway. To get back to Eastern, turn south on Baines Street.
