Another downtown commuting nightmare begins Tuesday.

        Three ramps — Fifth Street onto Interstate 471 south, and the I-471 and Sixth Street ramps off westbound Columbia Parkway — will be closed for 30 days following rush hour tonight as the Ohio Department of Transportation rebuilds them.

        Detours have been established, department spokeswoman Kim Patton said. o

        Cincinnati City Traffic Engineer John Deatrick said he sees a “huge problem, especially the first couple of days, as motorists look for the alternative routes.

        “I think it's important that people downtown go to Second Street to access I-471 south,” Mr. Deatrick said.

        The three ramps are the last to be rebuilt in the $15.4 million revamping of I-471 that began last spring, Ms. Patton said. Work should be completed before any bad winter weather begins.

        The I-471 face lift was necessary largely because of residential growth in Northern Kentucky. Traffic on the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, or Big Mac, has increased more thanfive-fold since 1978, from 17,190 to 96,360 last year.

        Motorists leaving downtown for I-471 south can use the Second Street ramp or the ramp from Liberty Street, which can be accessed off Reading Road.

        Most of the traffic using the Sixth Street ramp from Columbia Parkway west occurs during the morning rush hour. Those motorists can follow Columbia Parkway to Pike Street, left on Pike to Fourth Street and into downtown.

        Still, “Any time you close an artery, it has an impact on available traffic patterns,” Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune said.

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