Friday, March 26, 1999
East side road plans spur debate
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A plan to ease traffic congestion in Greater Cincinnati's eastern corridor is a blueprint for disaster for some residents, but welcome relief for others.
More than 100 people packed the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments' (OKI) boardroom Thursday night to give their opinions about new roads to improve transportation in an area stretching from downtown Cincinnati to Batavia, and from Interstate 471 in Northern Kentucky to Milford.
Drawing the most criticism were plans to build Eastgate Parkway, which would run parallel to Ohio 32 from Interstate 275 to a Stonelick-Olive Branch Road interchange.
“My house is being held for ransom right now,” said D. Butts, a Clough Pike resident who could be affected by a new road. “I can't get a loan. I can't sell it. I'm a hostage.”
Eastgate Parkway would “rip through their community,” Kevin Devine, spokesman for Citizens Against the Parkway (CAP) said Thursday night after presenting 960 signatures from people opposing the new road.
“We are pleading with you,” Mr. Devine said. “Do not let this happen to our community.”
But others said the parkway would bring needed relief.
“It would help alleviate some of the gridlock through Newtown and on Newtown Road,” Anderson Township resident Thomas Luttmer said.
“Traffic is bumper to bumper,” Newtown Mayor Curt Cosby added.
Rerouting Ohio 32 around Newtown by crossing the Little Miami River near Red Bank Road, a plan commonly known as the “Red Bank Connector,” was unpopular, too.
“You're going to destroy the Little Miami River,” Anderson Township resident Robin Skiff said.
Other recommendations in the plan that haven't met opposition include a diesel-powered commuter train service from downtown Cincinnati to I-275 in Clermont County near Milford. It would use existing tracks from downtown to Fairfax, known as the OASIS line, and Norfolk Southern Railway lines the rest of the way.
After the public hearing, plans for the eastern corridor will be completed and OKI will vote whether to adopt the plan. If the plan is adopted, preliminary engineering studies would start.
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