zrx299

Wow this has been a long time coming. Its staggering and maddening to look back at all of the horrible mistakes in designs and planning from the 1960s-70s era. Just awful all around.

That style is just a mild refresher of the forms from the 1960's. Lots of staggered glass, boxy form, earth-tone colors.

How long before Mike Brown ties this up with some bs clause from the Bengals lease?

1970s architecture is quite hideous, and the absolute worst at connecting to its surrounding environment. US Bank Arena is a great example. Zero connection to the street.

Ugh... that's heinous. Who let that partial-abortion get built?

Wow... I'm continually blown away by this project. What an absolute gem this will be for the city & region when 100% completed. Let's hope there's a critical mass of everyday users to keep the vandals and other undeseriables at bay.

Sprawl Mall, and fighting for the almighty sales tax dollar, plain and simple.

meh...better than a surface lot. kind of looks like a modern take on something from the 1960's.

It will be a modern glass box with some kind of wavy feature too break up the massing a little. The architecture buffs will decry it, while most people will think that its real progress over a parking lot. It's only 9 stories. There's no real incentive to design something totally outrageous (and budget blowing) that will barely be visible from the highway. We're not getting a 43-story banger like PNC in Pittsburgh is building. Like others have said...temper your expectations a bit.

I'm thrilled at the redevelopment of this, but can the city actually fill all these new hotel rooms coming online? Thats not to mention that the casino gets to build one in a few years too.

What a hideous garage. Needless to say its not pedestrian friendly at all. I will jump for joy the day they start demolition.

I love how that picture shows those eery red pole lights that used to illuminate that pathway along the old RR tracks that hasnt been used in 20 years... The trail to no where!

Residential would be perfect. Unfortunately no developer wants to build a brand new tower for market rate apartments/condos. They all have to be way overpriced. This of course changes the demographics of the critical mass thats desperately needed downtown. I dont know that a 30 story tower full of empty nesters that go to bed at 9pm every night is what downtown needs. Most YP's need something affordable to market rate. The best we can hope for is conversion of some of the older office towers downtown.

Asphalt is 90% recyclable. Might as well rip it up and re-do it, given the opportunity.

I still wish they would have done a more significantly different curtain wall for 303 Broadway. Yeah I get it, its part of the same complex, but from a distance the whole thing looks like a giant capital 'L' 303 could have held its own with a more impressive facade or curtain wall, even with all the parking levels it contains.

What a half-ass design, IMO. What good would it do to have 2 smaller gaps in the decks between the roads? I doubt people would miss the faux bridge theme if given a choice between whats there now vs one long capped span. I fail to see the design vision on this. Are they trying to prevent added cost of ventilation and lighting in what would become a tunnel? I dont get it. If they build it that way, it will look unfinished and tacky.

Why not something like the Sai Van bridge in Macau? Its double-decked and has a similar main span to what the Brent Spence has. It could be modified as a true double decker bridge (since the actual bridge has an enclosed lower box, for use during high winds).

I could not agree more!! Sadly, due to the political structure and timing of the Transportation bill, we're stuck with this latest "hybrid" crap of a plan and we'll have another massive hulk of a girder bridge to look at for another 70 years. Queensgate needs a complete overhaul anyway, why not use the one bridge option and redevelop the reclaimed areas? Downtown could add another 25% of actual city blocks. The convention center could be expanded to something respectable instead of something the size of a suburban furniture store. Not to mention a 2 x 5 bridge would be something of stature. I'm sorry, this just infuriates me.

Imagine coming down the cut-in the-hill and seeing this (albeit a much different angle)... Verrazanos-Narrows bridge in New York. Double decker suspension. looks good, functions good. incredible sight at night. 12 lanes, 6 each deck. There's your split problem solved right there. Top deck could be 75, bottom could be 71, or vice versa. Do it right the first time!!!

Truss bridges just scream "industrial wasteland", IMO. They just arent very inviting, not to mention its like looking through a chain link fence.

CWB should handle the local traffic. Get rid of the 5th St KY exit (a major component of daily rush hour backups southbound) and configure it to the CWB. "It seems like a lot of you are only looking at this project as a way of getting a cool signature bridge built. It would be nice if that happened, but that isnt the point of the project. " Yes, we are all aware of the bigger picture of alleviating traffic problems, but this is the kind of thinking that keeps Cincinnati firmly rooted in the 20th century while everyone else progresses forward in the 21st. There IS a way to accomplish the basic traffic goals, and at the same time, create an icon for the city. Iconic and functionality are not mutually exclusive. Its just going to cost a little more. and back to the Two Bridges scenario, all this does is move the bottleneck further south into Kentucky, as several people have mentioned before. Unless they plan to make the cut-in-the-hill 14 lanes for a few miles, this is short sighted at best.

Sometimes the most expensive makes the most sense in the long term. How many years after this is all done do we get to hear about how the "old Brent Spence" needs a complete overhaul? If they are projecting 200,000 vehicles per day in 5 years, and splitting half onto a new bridge, thats still 100,000 on the old Brent Spence... which is *still* 25,000 vpd over capacity. How much more money will it cost to rehab and refurb this old hulk decades into the future? There is plenty of room to build a modern bridge with all the necessary ramps right next to the existing struction and get rid of the old bridge. We already have plenty of local traffic bridges. Clay Wade Bailey anyone? Move the KY exits to the CWB via a new ramp from the 75-to-FWW connector. There's your local traffic component right there. Shift the alignment to run right over Gest St and there's your north approach. Meanwhile freeing up countless acres of downtown land to be redeveloped, and potential convention center expansion (for real this time--remember the "build over 75 plan"?). Everybody wins. Whats the big deal with elevating it through Queensgate anyway? Its just light industry and surface parking lots. Its not like we're taking out the train yard. Yes this would be the most disruptive, but so was FWW, and we all survived that... and now look what's being constructed over there. Do it right the first time.

it looks like we're going to get stuck with this. What an asinine solution. I realize KY owns the bridge, but come on, you cant be serious with this? All in the name of saving the 5th St exit in Covington. Two bridges will not only look ridiculous, but will eat up more land, and just move the bottleneck to where ever the new convergence of 71/75 will be. We already have a bridge for local traffic, and its barely used. They cant tear it down since its connected to the RR bridge. Whats wrong with a 10 to 12 lane elegant looking cable stayed bridge? I offer the new bridges in Boston and Charleston, SC as examples of multi-highway bridges combined into one. They have/had the chance to do something really special here with this project, but as usual, they screwed it up. Only this time, its KY's fault.

Yeah they could've hired Frank Gehry and we would've had something that resembles a caved in erector set building. Similar to what they're proposing for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards... http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/05/05/gal_atlantic-yards-5.jpg I would have liked to see a quality attempt at a modern art deco structure for this prominent spot on the banks. I'm tired of hearing how everything is supposed to take a backseat to the Freedom Center. Why not make The Banks a whole new "architecture district"?

I hope they can fill all this new commercial space with tenants. Seems like there is going to be a huge glut of office space in the next few years, especially combined with QCS II. I hope this attracts new downtown tenants and not just a reshuffling that would leave a huge hole in the heart of downtown, with offices moving to the newer digs.