TraderJake

Wow, this project finally got off the ground. I remember it being in a corridor study was involved with back in 2004.

That article disgusted me. West side? Hell no. Fringe side.

I got the Droid on Monday. Based on the few days I have had it, I like it. The Google Apps are pretty slick. Being able to say "Navigate to a really, really, really nice Spanish Resaturant in Washington, DC" and have it not only understand what you just said but actually give you a list of nice Spanish Restaurants in Washington DC and navigate to the one you select is pretty damn cool. It's also pretty nice in that it has a physical Keyboard. My fingers are not large by any means (in fact, I have tiny hands), but even with tiny hands I don't have the dexterity to click on the virtual keyboard. If you do have the dexterity that I lack though, it has haptic feedback so you should know when you touch something. So, far, so good!

Oh Dear god. That was the quickest and most convenient way into or out of Riverfest. I can't believe they'd cut something that greatly reduces congestion related to the event. It absolutely blows my mind. Could you imagine if WMATA did a similar thing for the presidential inauguration? This decision simply blows my mind. A potential logistical nightmare, so to speak.

Our site is hosted on a VDS, which means we are allocated a specific amount of processing power, memory, etc. So if another site/server was affected, it would not take down other sites. That's not true. Slamming the hard drive slams other sites. I can tell you that yesterday... we were down for most of the afternoon, and we also were on the cloud.

Yeah.... there is no interchange proposed; however, there were improvements proposed to North Bend Rd several years back. Those improvements recommended a 3 lane section for where this hospital is going to go, though.

I have not seen the Government Complex. Where is the Bladen St. Area? In front of the statehouse (on the other side of Church Circle) there is the park where the Thurgood Marshall statue / area is. Beyond that is Bladen St. You may have come into Annapolis on what it turns into - Rowe Blvd (MD 70).

Heh, I live here. I was downtown two weeks ago. For such a nice downtown, it's funny how much I stay away from it. It sort of happens when you live in what essentially is a tourist town. Lovely city though, and excellent photos! Did you get to see their government complexes? The Bladen St. Area is really nicely done for a government complex. Also, thje tall buildings outside the city proper are brand new. They dominate the skyline now.

Has this idiot never been anywhere on the east coast? The Accela Express is definitely not 1930's technology. Metrorail is definitely not 1930's technology. Calling the streetcar 1930's technology is like calling cars 1930's technology. It's simply not true. This idiot needs to move to a city with rail to learn to appreciate its benefit. Or, he could just be a dumbass and drive everyday to work in those cities. I'm sure he'd enjoy the commutes into DC, that's for sure. I hope they miss their mark on this ballot measure. It's horribly, horribly misguided. If it passes, I encourage you all to create your own petition that requires voter approval for major road projects. See how that goes. I bet you'll find your compatriots are horribly, horribly hypocritical when it comes to modes of transportation they oppose.

Very true. I understand the need for minority inclusion, but to give contracts to people less qualified than the qualified bidder is a dangerous precedent. I'd personally prefer that a company get hired to build something because they are qualified to build it, rather than get hired because they are a MBE. Also, it's worth noting that The Dawson Company is a minority run development company. I'm sure the Dawson Company doesn't necessarily have it out for minorities, rather, they, along with Carter, just want to see the Banks project be realized fully, on time and safely.

I have choice words for the ICC. I'll leave it as that. There are a lot of needs for the DC metro. DC is pushing streetcars, MTA is pushing the Purple Line, and the Silver Line will promote hopefully, as the Orange Line did in Arlington, some smart growth. Here's to the prudent projects in the DC metro, and down with the poorly thought out and short sighted projects. The only saving grace is that the ICC is a toll road, and in the future could be used to fund other transportation needs in the state, provided MD 200 is able to pay its bonds. As for the Louisville Bridges.... 8664. As for I-69, what an atrocious waste of money. Some things make it seem like it's still the early sixties. It's not. It's 2009, and we need to start thinking that way. Tie NEPA road projects to a cost benefit ratio, like they do for most rail projects. Perhaps then we'd see smart infrastructure, rather than politically motivated infrastructure.

Yeah, Messer doesn't really do transportation infrastructure construction. They do, however, build buildings. A need for density is a need for construction. That said, kudos to Messer.

^You don't set speed limits for poor weather. Speed limits are set for driving conditions under Clear / Cloudy / Dry conditions. People are assumed to be intelligent enough to know when they should take caution. Some people will always be inherently stupid, regardless of what the speed limit is set at. Those are the people targeted for enforcement. One of the unfortunate things about American society is that when it comes to driving, most Americans simply don't care about the environment. Their minds are set on getting from point A to point B quickly and safely. Time is precious, and if one can safely shave time off of driving, they will, legally or illegally. Read Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt. It goes into a lot of discussion regarding this topic as it relates to traffic. Moral of the story... every driver accepts risks while driving, either explicitly or implicitly. Why do people speed? Because to them, the risk of what can happen is below their threshold for safety. If drivers did not think it was safe to speed, they wouldn't do it. How do you make it seem not safe to speed? Stop designing roads in urban areas as though they are rural roads. Provide curves to keep people from dozing off. Box in motorists with closed sections of roadways.

This petition drive is disgusting. Absolutely, unequivocally disgusting. People know not what they're signing. There's killing the streetcar, and then there's this petition. Roads can only be widened so far. There will always be traffic. There won't always be constantly wider roads. This amendment, if passed, will be devastating. I wish I still lived in the area. I'd fight this petition tooth and nail. I may be a traffic engineer, but even young traffic engineers aren't stupid. We know the future needs more than roads. The future will have more than roads. Everything possible needs to be done to let Cincinnatians be made aware that they are being misled, and in the process, screwed. The streetcar will be good for the city. Transit will be good for the city. Buses are buses, and unfortunately the bias with buses is very real. Argue all you want that buses and streetcars can attract the same riders and do the same workload, but, until you show me empirical data that proves this I won't believe it. Trust me, I've looked, and I sure haven't found it. Speak out. Fight this issue. Rise up and ensure this petition fails. It needs to fail. It will fail, with your help.

^Bravo. Excellent explanation. Motorists drive what they find to be clear an reasonable on a roadway regardless of the speed. I can tell you that just because a sign is posted it does not mean that people actually follow that speed limit. I bet most of you have driven over the speed limit because you "felt" that it was safe to do so? Why does it feel safe to do so? It's often because the roads are designed for that speed. High Speeds can cause accidents, especially during wet weather, but most sensible people know to slow down in wet weather. Those who don't learn. A bigger speed related issue, especially on interstates, is variability of speeds. A high variability of speed can cause rear end accidents and run off the road accidents, the latter of which is one of the types of accidents with the highest frequency. Other things can cause accidents too, such as long straight sections lulling people into a dazed state. It might have happened to you, where you're driving and you suddenly realize that you don't remember the last few minutes of driving. Instances like that can lead to some pretty wild accidents. If people were allowed to drive the speed intended for roadways you'd see accidents in many instances decrease. Often times, the characteristics of the road itself limit the speed of vehicles. Would you speed in an urban area with curbed shoulders, 10' lanes and heavy pedestrian activity? Would you speed on a rural interstate in a 30 mile straight section where the posted speed is 55MPH? If you wish to see what it's like when speed limits are posted artificially low, check out MD 32 or MD 100 in Anne Arundel County, MD. I guarantee you that the average speed on that roadway is 70MPH for a posted 55MPH zone. Do people speed on that road? Absolutely. Does the design of the road encourage people to drive 70MPH? Absolutely. Do cops set a bad example by driving 80MPH in a 55MPH zone? Sure they do. What happens when you are driving 55 on one of these two roads? Chances are you greatly increase your likelihood of being rear ended or receiving an unpleasant gesture. There are reasons why accidents occur. Speed can be one of them, but often times it's not high speeds that cause the accidents but variation in speeds that cause it. Posting the speed limit at the proper / higher speed can make roads safer. It won't make all accidents go away, but it'll keep the flow of traffic movement and with a efficient flow the roads simply become safer.

Five Guys is some good stuff. It's expensive, but good. I never saw them prior to moving to Annapolis, but it's a nice thing. I imagine it'll make lots of money at its location on Calhoun St. It appears this is the first location in Cincinnati, is it also the first location in Ohio?

They killed Dante's though, where oh where will the Older Folks of the West Side eat now?

Did it really open? I mean, it's been a Motel for as long as I've been alive, and I don't believe it ever closed. Doesn't something have to close to be able to reopen?

I bet the intersection of Rybolt and New Rybolt Road becomes a high accident location once this project is wrapped up if it has not become one already.

You drove into DC? For the Cherry Blossom Festival? Good God Man, you got guts. For me, every time I go into DC it's from New Carrollton Station with a SmartTrip Card. I love Metrorail. Transit naysayers need only ride the Metro to find out how awesome transit can be. Anyways, Great photos. I wanted to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival this year, but none of my friends were available to go. Perhaps next year.

Solar panels, trees or not (that seems to be a lot of overkill), an intermodal yard in an industrialized area of Cincinnati is the best use of the land. It is adjacent to a very active river, rail lines and highways. Not every square inch of land can or should be gentrified; let's stop shipping our jobs to the suburbs! I think a lot of resistance for this development came from the fact that in recent history the City has been perceived as letting the West Side die for the betterment of other neighborhoods. I think many west siders are bitter about how what has been a very tight knit community has degraded into what you see today. A development like this, to them, is just another slap on the face. There could be a lot of talk and speculation as to why the West Side is what it is today, but such discussion does not preclude us from the fact that an intermodal yard is a great use for this property. Not everything can be a park, and not everything can be developed into something wonderful. The flood plain makes this site practically undevelopable for a use outside of what is proposed. Sometimes it's just the best use isn't the prettiest, but that's just the way it is.

Cool video. I am still going to maintain that an intermodal yard is probably one of the better, if not the best, uses for this property.

It would be a crime to tear down a perfectly good bridge. I'm glad they aren't. It might keep the cost low enough that this project actually gets completed before 2030. We shall see, we shall see.

Damn, aren't design exceptions fun? Probably had to have 11' lanes to keep the limit of disturbance to a minimum. Of course, there are plenty of quirks of the interstate, but for a recent design to have nonstandard widths is pretty impressive. Either way, for a design exception to occur is rare, and requires massive justification for doing so. I imagine in Atlanta's case it was to keep an extra block from being leveled for the highway. Don't want a repeat of what happened to the West End in the 50s, that's for sure.

Also, in Atlanta the medians (especially in the middle) are much narrower than 10 feet. Which makes all the "Move Accident Vehicles from Roadway" signs even funnier. Move to where? Using Google Maps to measure at multiple points, it looks like the lanes in downtown Atlanta are between 11 and 11.5 feet wide (probably closer to 11). I doubt that, they most likely 12' wide, that requirement is as old as the Interstate system itself Yep, narrow lanes are not conducive for safety nor speed. Constricted lanes are one of the better form of passive traffic calming out there. Don't believe me? Find a roadway with three lanes in both directions with 10' lanes and be sandwiched by two semis. I bet you'll be very aware of your speed.