December 4, 20195 yr 26 minutes ago, JYP said: Looks like Hollister Street in Mt. Auburn could become the latest street to be converted back to two-way traffic: https://city-egov2.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/Blob/55105.pdf?rpp=-10&w=doc_no%3D'201901798'&m=1 By "in Mt. Auburn" I assume that they only mean E. Hollister. Converting W. Hollister to 2-way would be very dangerous since people would cut the Mad Frog corner.
December 4, 20195 yr 43 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said: By "in Mt. Auburn" I assume that they only mean E. Hollister. Converting W. Hollister to 2-way would be very dangerous since people would cut the Mad Frog corner. W. Hollister also looks too narrow to convert without removing the parking, which I imagine would have objections from nearly every single property owner. E. Hollister is also pretty narrow but looks just wide enough to allow two way traffic with parking on both sides. It seems a bit wider than any number of streets in CUF - like Ohio, a street that squeezes in parked cars on both side of two-way traffic with mere inches to spare. These sorts of streets are great for areas that have lots of foot traffic because it forces drivers to slow down and pay attention.
December 4, 20195 yr The widening and reworking of Auburn at McMillan will take the edge off the trickle of new traffic we'll see from people traveling uphill on Vine cutting over to Auburn on their way either to Euclid Ave. or eastbound on McMillan. This is probably why E. Hollister was made one-way eastbound to begin with.
December 13, 20195 yr Here's why local business owners are outraged by proposed traffic flow changes Colerain Township officials are considering changes designed to make Colerain Avenue a safer road, but some business owners along the busy thoroughfare are outraged by the proposals, Courier partner WKRC reports. Design firm KZF recently presented a 100-plus-page plan to township trustees. Colerain Township Administrator Geoff Milz said the plan includes a lengthy list of improvements to Colerain Avenue and its surroundings, including changes to access points to businesses, wider sidewalks for pedestrians, grass medians, more trees, lane changes and redevelopment around Northgate Mall. But the one thing that got businesses fired up? No more left turns at various points on Colerain Avenue between Struble Road and Byrneside Drive. “This proposal to make left turns illegal on Colerain Avenue is not only ridiculous, but widely inconsiderate to all the longtime businesses on Colerain Avenue as a whole,” said Kelsey Foster of Grippo Foods Inc. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/12/13/heres-why-local-business-owners-areoutraged-by.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 13, 20195 yr Man, these business owners would lose their mind if they ever went to Metro Detroit. “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
December 13, 20195 yr 6 minutes ago, BigDipper 80 said: Man, these business owners would lose their mind if they ever went to Metro Detroit. Or Northern NJ (thinking Rtes. 3 and 46)
December 14, 20195 yr Classic. Nevermind that 4 of the most dangerous intersections in the state are on this road, there's a chance it might possibly cost us one customer a month!
December 14, 20195 yr The main problem I see is that Ohioans aren't used to being allowed to make U-turns -- except people in Middletown.
December 14, 20195 yr 2 hours ago, GCrites80s said: The main problem I see is that Ohioans aren't used to being allowed to make U-turns -- except people in Middletown. Well, U-Turns are legal in Ohio per Ohio traffic code statute 4511.37 (U-turns are prohibited on curves, or hills if the vehicle “cannot be seen within 500 feet by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction.”). It's just that some cities i.e. Columbus ban them entirely. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 10, 20205 yr It looks like 13th & Vine used to have bump-outs but they must have been removed in the early 2000s during the Gateway Quarter era of 3CDC redevelopment: Vine Street, Looking south to downtown from 13th Street, Cincinnati -- Nov. 2000 by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr
February 10, 20205 yr On 12/14/2019 at 1:09 AM, ColDayMan said: Well, U-Turns are legal in Ohio per Ohio traffic code statute 4511.37 (U-turns are prohibited on curves, or hills if the vehicle “cannot be seen within 500 feet by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction.”). It's just that some cities i.e. Columbus ban them entirely. I am very familiar with this part of the ORC... I used it to get out of a hefty insurance claim! “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
February 10, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, taestell said: It looks like 13th & Vine used to have bump-outs but they must have been removed in the early 2000s during the Gateway Quarter era of 3CDC redevelopment: They threw in a handful of those bumpouts all the way up to Elder when the street was converted back to two-way in 1999. I don't think they were particularly well done and probably caused drainage problems, as well as left turning vehicles blocking everyone behind them. I guess I never really thought about how they've since disappeared, but they were all removed when the street was rebuilt in 2004. I wonder if the city sold it as "you lose the bumpouts, but you get granite curbs and a strip of brick sidewalk."
February 10, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, jjakucyk said: They threw in a handful of those bumpouts all the way up to Elder when the street was converted back to two-way in 1999. I don't think they were particularly well done and probably caused drainage problems, as well as left turning vehicles blocking everyone behind them. I guess I never really thought about how they've since disappeared, but they were all removed when the street was rebuilt in 2004. I wonder if the city sold it as "you lose the bumpouts, but you get granite curbs and a strip of brick sidewalk." I've never understood why there aren't more "no left turn" signs around town where a strong grid exists. Its no biggie to go right a few times to get to where you need to be.
February 10, 20205 yr 22 minutes ago, TheCOV said: I've never understood why there aren't more "no left turn" signs around town where a strong grid exists. Its no biggie to go right a few times to get to where you need to be. In OTR it's hard enough to navigate east-west as it is even without that sort of restriction. However, in general Cincinnati seems to be way over-signaled compared to other cities. Four-way stop signs are incredibly rare here because...traffic flow I guess? Instead, they're either one/two way stops, or traffic signals. And yet, there's no real reason for any signals in OTR aside from at Central Parkway and Liberty Streets. Maybe also the mess of Vine/McMicken/Findlay. Go to Chicago and there's four-way stops everywhere, even as close to the Loop as Streeterville and River North. Also, an interesting point made by Jeff Speck that I never really thought about but which makes perfect sense, is that if you have four-way stop controlled intersections, you don't need turning lanes anymore. In fact it's better if you don't, because then everyone just has to take their turn and there's less confusion. So there's never the problem of one person blocking the intersection for a whole "phase" of the signal waiting to make a turn, and you don't have to restrict movements either. Like check this out, this is basically the same cross section as Vine Street, with massive density, but just simple stop signs: https://goo.gl/maps/BBg5ddcriGUu6E8D6
February 11, 20205 yr Many if not most of Cincinnati's bus routes travel north/south through Over-the-Rhine. Making it all stop signs would slow down all of those bus routes (and the streetcar) and consume more fuel.
February 16, 20205 yr On 2/10/2020 at 7:23 PM, jmecklenborg said: Many if not most of Cincinnati's bus routes travel north/south through Over-the-Rhine. Making it all stop signs would slow down all of those bus routes (and the streetcar) and consume more fuel. Would it though? The presence of a traffic signal doesn't guarantee a GREEN traffic signal. It's about 50:50 at best. So yes every stop sign is a guaranteed stop, but if your average stop time is only half as long as at a typical red traffic signal, then it's a wash time-wise, and you don't have to worry about turning vehicles like I mentioned before. I bet it's one of those things that feels slower, but actually isn't. Also, for the streetcar specifically, I bet you could set up the existing signals to be all-way flashing red most of the time, but when a streetcar approaches, it turns the cross street solid red and the main street solid green. Basically it's in the equivalent of "night mode" most of the time, and the streetcar triggers "day mode" temporarily. That way you get the benefits of a simple 4-way stop as well as transit preemption that always works because it never has to wait for a signal phase to time out.
February 17, 20205 yr I'm not sure if this is better suited for this thread or the EWH/Walnut Hills thread (feel free to move). The Cincinnati Art Museum is building their Art Walk ~here which has led to a temporary closing of the turning lane at Gilbert and Eden Park. My loose understanding is that the Art Museum is in discussions with the city/parks to reconfigure the intersection as a whole and they are hoping to have at least some patrons utilize the already-existing street parking on Gilbert to walk up to the museum. And they're also fairly open to suggestions to make the area more equitable and accessible as a whole. I'm fairly new to urbanism and UrbanOhio for that matter but my gut instinct is that this general area doesn't feel overly walkable, and if you park on the southbound side of Gilbert with a couple of kids, there's a zero percent chance you're going to want to cross Gilbert with its current configuration. There's also the magic bike lane that appears further down Gilbert but certainly doesn't inspire a lot of hope if you're a novice rider like me, and there's these suckers here and here showing there's at least some desire for bike lanes. But there's also the bus stop factor with the 4 and 11 both stopping nearby and high-use routes. I guess I'm wondering if this would be a good candidate for a parking-protected protected bike lane that helps connect downtown to Walnut Hills, or if anyone has any ideas that could improve the street (intersection/road diet? bump outs?). I feel like if the Cincinnati Art Museum, and maybe even the ballet site further down, can get on board it would make it politically more viable - but maybe I'm naive.
February 17, 20205 yr 12 hours ago, jjakucyk said: Also, for the streetcar specifically, I bet you could set up the existing signals to be all-way flashing red most of the time, but when a streetcar approaches, it turns the cross street solid red and the main street solid green. Basically it's in the equivalent of "night mode" most of the time, and the streetcar triggers "day mode" temporarily. That way you get the benefits of a simple 4-way stop as well as transit preemption that always works because it never has to wait for a signal phase to time out. Yeah that could work. It's not important for the streetcar to travel at a steady 30mph+ through the area - what's important is for it to not stop completely. User perception of the overall utility of the service is damaged every time the streetcar comes to a complete stop between stations.
February 17, 20205 yr 8 hours ago, shawk said: I'm not sure if this is better suited for this thread or the EWH/Walnut Hills thread (feel free to move). The Cincinnati Art Museum is building their Art Walk ~here which has led to a temporary closing of the turning lane at Gilbert and Eden Park. My loose understanding is that the Art Museum is in discussions with the city/parks to reconfigure the intersection as a whole and they are hoping to have at least some patrons utilize the already-existing street parking on Gilbert to walk up to the museum. And they're also fairly open to suggestions to make the area more equitable and accessible as a whole. I'm fairly new to urbanism and UrbanOhio for that matter but my gut instinct is that this general area doesn't feel overly walkable, and if you park on the southbound side of Gilbert with a couple of kids, there's a zero percent chance you're going to want to cross Gilbert with its current configuration. There's also the magic bike lane that appears further down Gilbert but certainly doesn't inspire a lot of hope if you're a novice rider like me, and there's these suckers here and here showing there's at least some desire for bike lanes. But there's also the bus stop factor with the 4 and 11 both stopping nearby and high-use routes. I guess I'm wondering if this would be a good candidate for a parking-protected protected bike lane that helps connect downtown to Walnut Hills, or if anyone has any ideas that could improve the street (intersection/road diet? bump outs?). I feel like if the Cincinnati Art Museum, and maybe even the ballet site further down, can get on board it would make it politically more viable - but maybe I'm naive. You're right. Gilbert is way over-built... and certainly doesn't need 7 lanes at that intersection. Anything that narrows the street and slows down traffic would help. In terms of ease of implementation, here are some ideas starting with the easiest/cheapest: remove the slip turn lanes, add bumpouts, add bike lanes, move the curbs in (making larger sidewalks).
February 17, 20205 yr Indeed, Gilbert has no traffic. It was the primary route to the east side back in the day, along with Victory Parkway which feeds into it at Eden Park Drive, but Columbia Parkway and I-71 sucked all that traffic away. Since Gilbert already has a median/turn lane, you can easily just scoot the parking in one lane and make the current parking lane a protected bikeway. No curb modifications needed, and the parking lane can become bus stops and right turn lanes as needed. It's below Elsinore that things get ugly. The highway ramps casino entrance along with the slope makes it a biking disaster. Reading is no better.
February 17, 20205 yr ^Yeah, I ride down Gilbert so rarely that I always forget about that bad merge south of Elsinore. It's a fairly bad situation since there is usually some gravel distracting you as you try to figure out if there is a gap or not.
February 18, 20205 yr On 2/17/2020 at 9:15 AM, jjakucyk said: Indeed, Gilbert has no traffic. It was the primary route to the east side back in the day, along with Victory Parkway which feeds into it at Eden Park Drive, but Columbia Parkway and I-71 sucked all that traffic away. Since Gilbert already has a median/turn lane, you can easily just scoot the parking in one lane and make the current parking lane a protected bikeway. No curb modifications needed, and the parking lane can become bus stops and right turn lanes as needed. It's below Elsinore that things get ugly. The highway ramps casino entrance along with the slope makes it a biking disaster. Reading is no better. It seems like it would make sense to run Wasson Way into Eden Park then connect it to downtown with a protected bike lane on Gilbert if possible.
February 18, 20205 yr I don't know what the relative counts are, but I would posit that 90+% of bikers go through Eden Park rather than taking Gilbert all the way up to McMillan. Even those heading to UC tend to do that since it's a much more pleasant ride and you end up just two to three blocks east of Gilbert at the top anyway. Still, Gilbert could be made much more friendly than it is, and a much better multi-modal link to Walnut Hills. If they can just get the last mile to downtown fixed. This https://goo.gl/maps/Sjx8egihpNo1W7H88 represents a complete misunderstanding of how bikes work. They want you to scrub all your downhill momentum into a turn with maybe a five foot radius. If this was on an uphill, maybe, but not on a fast downhill. Instead, cyclists just merge left to maintain speed, then try in vain to look behind and to the right for any vehicles flying down the offramp at highway speed while also trying to look ahead for cracks in the pavement. By the time all is sorted out, the bike lane has ended. This whole stretch needs to be re-engineered, perhaps in conjunction with removal of the Gilbert Avenue Viaduct too, that has been discussed before. The massive I-71 wall and blank parking garage/lot and bus station are all negatives, but at the same time, the lack of much "there, there" means it could be treated more like an actual multi-modal parkway or allé than a highway.
February 18, 20205 yr On 2/10/2020 at 7:23 PM, jmecklenborg said: Many if not most of Cincinnati's bus routes travel north/south through Over-the-Rhine. Making it all stop signs would slow down all of those bus routes (and the streetcar) and consume more fuel. South Philly is one of the densest neighborhoods in the US and has like 20+ bus routes running through it. The vast majority of intersections are controlled by four way stops and it works quite well. A much better experience for cyclists too.
March 23, 20205 yr If the City of Cincinnati ever finishes installing the new high-tech traffic control system that they have allegedly been installing for several years...will we be able to do this?
May 9, 20205 yr The following streets will be closed down so restaurants and bars can offer outdoor dining: Quote Full street closures: 15th Street – Between Vine and Republic, Republic and Race, Race and Pleasant 14th Street - Between Vine and Republic, Republic and Race 13th Street - Between Vine and Republic Freedom Way - Between Vine and Joe Nuxhall, Vine and Race Joe Nuxhall - Between 2nd and Freedom Way Campbell Alley - Between Findlay and W. Elder Partial lane closures: Race St – Between Elder and Findlay, Court and 9th, 6th and 5th Vine St. – Between 15th and Central Parkway Walnut St. – Between 14th and Mercer St Walnut St—Between 12th and 13th Clay St – Between 14th and Liberty, 13th and 12th Main St – Between 12th and Central Parkway Broadway - 13th and 12th 8th St. - between Sycamore and Main 7th St. – Between Walnut and Main
May 9, 20205 yr 8 hours ago, taestell said: The following streets will be closed down so restaurants and bars can offer outdoor dining: Begrudgingly, I have to tip my hat to the mayor for doing this.
May 12, 20205 yr ^ As with most urbanist issues, Cranley only does the right thing when a big developer comes to him and asks for it. In this case, 3CDC wants outdoor dining in OTR because that's the only way restaurants can reopen and be profitable. Most of 3CDC's restaurant and retail tenants pay rent based on their income, not a flat rate, so it's in 3CDC's interest to make these restaurants profitable ASAP. Hopefully people will get used to the outdoor dining spaces and not want them to go away. Then we can make them permanent by adding parklets and bump-outs.
May 14, 20205 yr Restaurants at The Banks have released a bizarre statement saying that they won't do "street seats" outdoor dining this weekend: Meanwhile in OTR, restrictions are already going into place:
May 14, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, taestell said: Restaurants at The Banks have released a bizarre statement saying that they won't do "street seats" outdoor dining this weekend: Probably just an acknowledgement of how sh*te the weather is supposed to be, they don’t wanna bring back/hire staff for nothing
May 14, 20205 yr ^ Yeah, that's probably why. Just odd that they didn't give any explanation in their statement.
May 14, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, taestell said: ^ Yeah, that's probably why. Just odd that they didn't give any explanation in their statement. https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2020/05/14/the-banks-will-not-offer-street-seating-for-restau.html Quote "We believe that the street seats for weekend one could put us in a scenario where we have overcrowding or large gatherings that would be not in the spirit of the good faith reopening that the governor and the mayor are offering us." ? “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
May 14, 20205 yr Lol if you've gone to the banks the last few weeks you'll have seen what level of concern the restaurants have for overcrowding...
May 15, 20205 yr I drove by around 5 PM on Mother's Day and there was a line of 15-20 people waiting for take-out from Ruth's Chris. Definitely not following the six foot rule; about half of the people had masks on. "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
June 24, 20204 yr The City Manager's office released a memo about Vision Zero yesterday: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/noncms/cmgr/memo/index.cfm?action=public.viewpdf&name=41321.pdf Few things stood out to me: - Raised crosswalks being implemented near schools/recreation centers is a good start - Leading Pedestrian Intervals in NBDs is overdue but also a positive step - LightPath crosswalk system seems interesting, but doesn't fundamentally change the real issue (speeding in front of schools) - Spending money on "Blankout No Turn on Red" signage seems like wasting limited funds on a more technical 'beg button' - all things being equal, I'd rather see more of the temporary bumpouts (like at Martin Dr.) or closing off slip lanes. Edited June 24, 20204 yr by shawk
June 24, 20204 yr The city is in the process of repaving Broadway, and they have changed the intersection of Broadway & 9th to a raised crosswalk configuration on the east side. In other words, instead of pedestrians going down to cross 9th, cars on 9th come up to cross over the sidewalk. (Here is a Street View of the old configuration — drivers cannot see around the corner to the left, so they would often fly through this intersection, ignoring the marked crosswalk and potentially hitting pedestrians.) I don't know if this is technically part of the city's Vision Zero efforts, but it's a good sign that DOTE is willing to consider tweaks like this.
June 24, 20204 yr 14 minutes ago, shawk said: - Leading Pedestrian Intervals in NBDs is overdue but also a positive step Why do only NBDs get this? The recommendation for adding leading pedestrian intervals came out of the Downtown traffic study.
June 24, 20204 yr 13 minutes ago, shawk said: - Spending money on "Blankout No Turn on Red" signage seems like wasting limited funds on a more technical 'beg button' - all things being equal, I'd rather see more of the temporary bumpouts (like at Martin Dr.) or closing off slip lanes. Or just save the money and make all intersection in NBDs No Turn on Red. What a waste of money.
June 24, 20204 yr 5 minutes ago, taestell said: Why do only NBDs get this? The recommendation for adding leading pedestrian intervals came out of the Downtown traffic study. To be fair, it says "locations will be posted in coming weeks" and describes them as the most pedestrian-heavy areas, so it's possible downtown will get this as well. Hopefully they do, because I agree with you. Re: the intersection you posted, I'd been wondering what they are doing there and that's a great idea. I'd also been shocked that those signs are allowed in the middle of that sidewalk - it's such an awkward place to walk. And @Dev, yeah, I am hoping that the "No Turn on Red" intersections in PRidge don't get retroactively changed to this nonsense. I'm sure there are others, but I know they fought to eliminate those turn on red for a long time.
June 24, 20204 yr 7 minutes ago, shawk said: I'd also been shocked that those signs are allowed in the middle of that sidewalk - it's such an awkward place to walk. Yeah, that block of 9th has comically small sidewalks and putting road signs in the middle of them makes them basically unusable.
June 24, 20204 yr 18 minutes ago, shawk said: And @Dev, yeah, I am hoping that the "No Turn on Red" intersections in PRidge don't get retroactively changed to this nonsense. I'm sure there are others, but I know they fought to eliminate those turn on red for a long time. I was living in PRidge when the intersection at Woodford and Ridge was changed from No Turn during school hours to just constant. I knew that it was a mild inconvenience for me but recognized that it's pretty important since it's at the entry to a business district and across from a private school. The intersection is terrible because it seems that all the parents for the school demand to drop their kid off right in front of the school instead of 100 meters in any direction. I'm curious if people still flagrantly violate the turn limitation.
September 28, 20204 yr David Mann has a motion out to improve safety of West 8th Street in Price Hill by removing rush-hour parking restrictions on the ~2 mile stretch from Elberon to Nebraska. Seems like a no-brainer win.
September 28, 20204 yr Last week, DOTE released their list for the first round of Vision Zero projects. It's in a giant spreadsheet: https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/visionzero/the-plan/vision-zero-project-list-2020-2021/ The list is mostly simple things that probably should have been done a long time ago. Only 2 intersections are planned to be redesigned: Quebec & Glenway in EPH, which is a school zone in a NBD with a high crash rate, and Clinton Springs & Dickson in North Avondale, a school zone. There are also 5 raised crosswalks on the list: Oakley, Evanston, EPH, Mt. Washington, and College Hill. Do we have even have one of these anywhere in the whole city today? The one in Oakley is on Madison in front of the flag store, which seems to be the busiest of these streets and the only one that does not lead to either a school or rec center. It will be interesting to see how that goes during rush hour.
September 28, 20204 yr 1 hour ago, Dev said: The one in Oakley is on Madison in front of the flag store, which seems to be the busiest of these streets and the only one that does not lead to either a school or rec center. It will be interesting to see how that goes during rush hour. That's fascinating, and these aren't at intersections either.
September 28, 20204 yr ^ @Dev good catch on that one's location, but I think it's well-deserved - it's a natural mid-block crossing point that already has bumpouts (sort of) and will hopefully slow traffic entering the square. Not that anecdotes are worth anything but I almost got somebody killed at that spot because I had the audacity of stopping for a pedestrian while in the right lane. Someone blew around me going way above the speed limit - luckily the lady saw the truck in time but it was really scary. Also interesting that the motion re: 8th seems to have come from a tweet? Was the CC or were others pushing this?
September 29, 20204 yr 2 hours ago, shawk said: Also interesting that the motion re: 8th seems to have come from a tweet? Was the CC or were others pushing this? My understanding is that the idea has been circulating for a while. Not sure who first came up with it but it goes back before that tweet on Sept 14.
September 29, 20204 yr 13 hours ago, shawk said: Also interesting that the motion re: 8th seems to have come from a tweet? Was the CC or were others pushing this? I guess it's time UrbanOhio starts its own radio show
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