Monday, September 03, 2001
Group attacks road congestion
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer Contributor
CRESTVIEW HILLS — Mike Matracia sees the mile-long line of white headlights in the morning and red taillights in the evening.
Mr. Matracia sees the gridlock twice a day on Ky. 16 in Taylor Mill.
But last week, about 30 Kenton County and state leaders gathered to begin talking about such transportation issues.
The Kenton County Transportation Task Force held its inaugural meeting Thursday.
Dory Montazemi, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments in Cincinnati, said the meeting was the first of nine scheduled for the next 14 months.
As Kenton County has grown around Interstate 275, traffic jams along Ky. 16 and Ky. 17 in Independence are a perpetual pain.
According to census figures, 151,464 people call Kenton County home — a 6.6 percent jump from 1990.
Independence City Manager Mark Wendling calls that “exponential” growth.
When asked to count the number of subdivisions that have sprung up in Independence in the last 10 years, he stopped counting at 12.
“As you go down (Ky. 17) you forget some of them,” Mr. Wendling said. “The growth is very overwhelming. It's hard for the infrastructure to keep up.”
The Kenton County Transportation Task Force — it's the first Greater Cincinnati county to use OKI for its study — has a fourfold plan to solve the problem:
• Integrate transportation improvements with established land-use laws.
• Preserve the capacity of current roads.
• Develop options to driving, such as expanded bus service and possibly light rail.
• Provide for a financially feasible plan.
“The funds for roads are going to be kind of scarce,” said Rep. Jon Draud, R-Crestview Hills. “They're talking about a major shortfall in the general fund. The better organized we are in Northern Kentucky, the more likely we are to get funding.”
Among the local roads likely to be discussed are Ky. 17, Ky. 16 and Turkeyfoot Road. Taylor Mill City Administrator Jill Bailey said her city withdrew its endorsement of a new Ky. 16 along Old Taylor Mill Road because the state would demolish more homes than first estimated.
Instead, Ms. Bailey would like east-west connector roads to link Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties to relieve traffic counts along Ky. 16 that rose from 23,000 vehicles a day in 1995 to 28,000 vehicles a day this year.
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Group attacks road congestion
