Thursday, January 13, 2000
Road work set, but will it help?
Study: Widening adds to congestion
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Aerial shows progress of Fort Washington Way relocation project.
(Tony Jones photo)
| ZOOM |
|
Only six weeks until orange barrel season officially starts and this road construction season promises to be as congested as previous years.
But as motorists prepare for the worst, a new study found that widening and building new highways in Greater Cincinnati between 1982 and 1996 made traffic worse.
Several projects this construction season will expand highways or entrance ramps to highways to relieve congestion:
• I-71 is being widened between Pfeiffer Road and Western Row Road. The additional third lane commuters enjoyed this winter will disappear in March when heavy construction resumes. The project is scheduled to be complete in summer 2001.
• Widening I-71 between Western Row Road and Ohio 48 starts in March. Two lanes will stay open in each direction. The project should be done in fall 2001.
• The ramp from eastbound I-275 to U.S. 42 will be widened. Closures will take place overnight. Work begins in the spring and should be complete in the fall.
Because two lanes of traffic will remain open on I-71 during the peak hours, construction backups shouldn't be too different from last year, when the project started.
But commuters in the Fields Ertel area have noticed a big reduction in travel time since the Ohio Department of Transportation temporarily opened part of the third lane on I-71 late last year.
“It used to take 20 to 30 minutes to get from Governors
Hill to the interstate,” said Denise Ross, who has been commuting from Reading to the Fields Ertel area for about four years. “Now it takes five to 10 minutes.”
She knows that when the third lane on I-71 disappears for construction, her drive time will increase again. And, she said, once it re-opens it will probably provide only temporary relief.
“Once they start building more buildings, it will probably get worse again,” she said.
As far as traffic tie-ups go, several Tristate road projects that don't include widening will have a bigger impact on commuter times this construction season.
• Reconstruction of I-71/75 in Erlanger, between I-275 and just north of Turfway Road, could cause 20- to 30-minute delays during peak times. A $30 million project by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will include repaving two ramps connecting I-275 to I-71/75, leaving drivers unable to use the highway that loops around downtown Cincinnati as an escape from problems elsewhere.
• I-275 lanes need to be replaced from the I-71-75 interchange to just west of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
• Ronald Reagan Highway will again be down to one lane in each direction between Galbraith Road and I-71 starting in March. Pavement repairs, resurfacing and safety improvements will be made.
“Is it more troublesome than past years?” said Judi Craig, mar keting and communications manager with the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI). “It's maybe more troublesome to a different audience. It's always troublesome to who it affects.”
A study released Tuesday at the Annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington, D.C., questions whether the construction hassles for widening projects or new roadways are worth it.
It found that widening and building new highways in Greater Cincinnati between 1982 and 1996 accounted for a 14 percent to 43 percent increase in traffic. Nationally, traffic increased 15 percent to 45 percent, according to the study by the University of London Center for Transport Studies and ICF Consulting in Fairfax, Va.
“You get short-term relief by widening the highways or building new ones,” said Glen Brand, director of the national Sierra Club's Cincinnati office. “But in the long run you get congestion. ... We need to give folks more options such as light rail or expanded bus service.”
The study, “Analysis of Metropolitan Highway Capacity and the Growth in Vehicle Miles of Travel,” analyzed data from 70 urban areas compiled by the Texas Transportation Institute.
Because new roads relieve congestion and make driving less costly and less time consuming, people begin making more trips on the new roads and quickly fill them up, said Haynes Goddard, a University of Cincinnati econom ics professor.
“We cannot build our way out of congestion problems,” he said.
But personal mobility is in demand and communities' requests for new roads or expanded ones is skyrocketing, highway ad vocates say.
“People cause increases in traffic, not building new roads,” said David Finley, managing director of the Ohio Construction Information Association in Columbus, which represents highway advocacy groups. “It's like saying, let's stop building schools so people stop having children.”
Road work set, but will it help?
Ky. scores well on improving teachers
Gay rights groups cite 2 setbacks
King Day events focus on teaching the young
Two plan to share speakership
Butler's Holcomb raps 2nd official
Disabled kids ski away the day
Fatal crash closes I-75 for hours
Police can no longer sell old handguns
Covington mayoral race jumping
Campaign cash's stench
Do the brave thing: Let Justin go
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Children's programming activist sees light at the end of the tube
Fox swearing off sleaze
GET TO IT
He's cool enough without the gang
2 construction workers injured
Barq co-founder dies
Butler township keeps president, adds member
Campbell may group cities' fees
Charter schools criticized
City garages drop hour from $1 rates
Embezzlement probe at state agency grows
Falmouth Police Chief dismissed
Former Xavier president dies
Ind. group taking on gambling
Jail time for guns brought to school
Lucas' town hall education meeting to reach the people
Main break floods Cleveland streets
Man tells police he didn't shoot
Monroe blaze traced to cigarette
New center to provide work force training
Police chiefs honor citizen, two officers
Receptionist sentenced for passing drugs
School voucher supporters file official notice of appeal
Silverton says goodbye to Grafton's
TRISTATE DIGEST
Van driver guilty in crash that killed 2
