City wants new street, new intersection as part of Brent Spence project

As part of the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project, Cincinnati city officials want a new Downtown street and new intersection in Queensgate.

In something of a win for Bridge Forward, the local group that has pressing bridge designers for better connections between Downtown and Queensgate, the city is now asking state transportation officials for two changes to existing bridge plans:

• It wants a new local street on the east side of Interstate 75, running between Fifth and Ninth streets, to support about 9 1/2 acres of land the city will recover during the bridge project to use for development.

• It wants an intersection at Gest Street where West Eighth Street and Ninth Street meet. (Gest currently travels under Eighth.) The intersection design also calls for an access road to southbound I-75.

"This project is a generational opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past and stitch communities back together," Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in a late Thursday press release.

In addition to asking the Brent Spence Bridge team for improved access into Queensgate, the city wants a wider deck carrying the West End's Ezzard Charles Drive over I-75.

Plans already call for the two bridges there to become one. The city now wants an additional 50 feet on each side of the new platform, with more room for landscaping and greenspace. That would make the crossing about twice as large as currently proposed.

"With these proposals, we are building on our advocacy for the reclamation of land and better pedestrian connectivity," Pureval said.

Chamber endorses city approach

On Friday, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber endorsed the city's approach to the Brent Spence design.

"From the beginning, we have said that collaboration with and between ODOT (the Ohio Department of Transportation) and our local governments would continue to yield positive results," Chamber President and CEO Brendon Cull said in a statement.

In June, Cull questioned the cost and feasibility of some Bridge Forward ideas for the bridge project, although not by name.

“When you dig into the details," he said in a letter to businesses, "you see that more recent versions contemplate expensive tunnel/trench options, potentially require enormous and unwalkable intersections, and lead to potentially dramatic cost increases.”

Bridge Forward has since dropped a tunnel/trench proposal in its plans.

State and local governments must take the lead in the bridge work, Cull said in his summer letter and latest statement. The Ohio and Kentucky transportation departments "are the appropriate organizations to determine the true impacts and feasibility of changes,” his letter said.

Cincinnati officials, likewise, avoided specific reference to Bridge Forward in its statement – although individual members of City Council have praised the group for pushing ideas to expand development possibilities for the western edge of Downtown.

Asked if the city's new recommendations are a response to Bridge Forward, the director of the city's Department of Transportation and Engineering said the city has received input from a variety of sources.

"These improvements are ideas that we think may work to move traffic into and around Queensgate, the West End and the CBD (Central Business District)," John Brazina said.

'It is not too late to improve this project'

Bridge Forward said it appreciates that city leaders are recognizing the need to connect to Queensgate and newly developable land.

"The naysayers have been proven wrong," group founder Brian Boland said in a statement. "It is not too late to improve this project that is so critical to our community even at a modest additional cost."

But the group still wants a more fully developed street grid between Downtown and lower part Queensgate. That would take best advantage of the added land, "and most importantly connect Queensgate to the Central Business District for long-term community redevelopment," Boland said.

The group called on the city administration to hold a public hearing "within the next week" to compare the city and Bridge Forward plans.

To that, Brazina said the city would forward its input to the Ohio Department of Transportation, following the state's established process. It will be up to Ohio and Kentucky officials, along with their hired design contractor, "to evaluate our recommendations," he said.

Officials are evaluating all stakeholder ideas for the $3.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge project through early December. Plans call for reconfiguration of the current bridge and construction of a new bridge along the Brent Spence Bridge's west side.

Ohio calls Cincinnati 'vital stakeholder'

For their part, Ohio officials said they "share the city's goals of improving safety, connecting neighborhoods and creating opportunities for future development."

In a statement, the state called Cincinnati a "vital stakeholder and partner on this transformative project" while noting the need to look at ways to reduce the cost and timeline of the bridge project.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What does Cincinnati want added to Brent Spence plan?