Friday, February 05, 1999
West-side rail service debated
Planners: East side already first in line
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Some Greater Cincinnati residents want a proposed commuter rail train to run from downtown to Lawrenceburg, but transportation planners are less optimistic about a line running along the Ohio River.
Community leaders and residents at a public hearing Thursday said it would relieve congested roads on the west side; transportation planners said studies show more populated corridors need relief first.
“All rail is good for the area, and we want to make it a mass transit system,” said Jim Duane, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Re gional Council of Governments. OKI in 1993 set out corridors for study of rail ... the western corridor is the last (of four corridors) on the list.”
Two Cincinnati City Council committees held the public hearing to hear opinions about a motion that Councilman Todd Portune proposed last year calling for lightweight, diesel-powered trains from downtown Cincinnati to Lawrenceburg.
The line could potentially link with a proposed line from downtown east past Lunken Airport to the Milford area, and with a proposed light rail system in the Interstate 71 corridor running from the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport north to Paramount's Kings Island. OKI has already studied those two corridors. Preliminary engineering studies are under way for the I-71 corridor.
Mr. Portune's proposal for the western line is in its infancy. It calls for commuter rail trains to share tracks with freight trains on the track that runs along the river. Costs haven't been studied.
“Our committee saw many weaknesses with a west-side commuter rail,” said Tom Ewing, manager of environment and transportation for the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.
Committee members are afraid that low ridership or cost overruns on the west line would hurt support for other rail initiatives, he said.
A deputy city manager's report, which is in line with some OKI studies, recommends against building the western line now because ridership isn't there.
Mr. Duane also said the western corridor would need to be studied to determine what placement would get the best ridership: “We want to look at all the options, not just along the riverfront,” he said.
But elected officials from Cleves and Whitewater Township said the time is now.
“If you drive on I-74, you see it's already gridlocked,” said Hubert Brown, president of the Whitewater Township trustees. “Have some vision. Cincinnati and western Hamilton County will continue to grow and worsen the gridlock.”
City council committee members will continue to discuss commuter rail to Lawrenceburg and discuss and vote whether to adopt the deputy city manager's report.
“The people who see the larger vision here are enthusiastic about it,” Mr. Portune said. “The planners seem to be focusing on some of the hurdles without grasping the vision.”
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