By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Getting between downtown Cincinnati and the Roebling Suspension Bridge is about to get a lot easier, with work beginning Wednesday on a new street grid project on the northern side of the Ohio River.

Cincinnati is paying for a nearly $1 million improvement to the approaches from Theodore M. Berry Way to the oldest vehicle bridge in the city, with Hamilton County overseeing the five-month project, in conjunction with Kentucky state highway officials and Covington city officials. The end result won't create any new developable land, but it will provide better access from Kentucky to the stadiums and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

In addition, new connections will be made to a park that is planned for the central riverfront and the proposed Banks project, which is planned to include new retail and residential areas.

The plan is to complete the stretch of Walnut Street between Berry Way - named for the city's first African-American mayor - and Second Street. That, coupled with a more efficient connection to Ted Berry Way from the bridge, will make it much easier to access the east side of downtown, planners said.

Drivers now are only able to turn left and take Race or Elm streets to Second Street, and city officials say most northbound drivers across the bridge want to go east.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com