This just might be some good news.

 

It's great news. Now's the time to focus the rail discussion on the Wasson Line.

EXCLUSIVE Railroad official: Oasis line is 'our railroad … and we intend to use part of it'

Feb 24, 2015, 6:56am EST

Chris Wetterich Staff reporter and columnist- Cincinnati Business Courier

 

 

Officials with Genesee & Wyoming Inc. won't say whether they will go to court to protect what they believe is their right to use the two tracks along the Oasis Rail Line corridor, but a company vice president made it clear a proposed bike trail wouldn't stop the company.

 

"It's our railroad. And we have the right to use that railroad. We intend to use part of it," Martin Pohlod, vice president for commercial of G&W's Ohio Valley Region, told the Courier in an exclusive interview after a public hearing on the bike trail on Friday in Columbia-Tusculum.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/02/24/exclusive-railroad-official-oasis-line-is-our.html

According to the enquirer, they changed their mind to create a deadline for odot to decide...the deadline being dec 31. I really hope that is a typo, we do not need almost another year of debate, this whole project needs to be crancelled!

Oasis bike trail gets approval, but railroad may determine whether it's built

Chris Wetterich - Staff reporter and columnist - Cincinnati Business Courier

 

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority board voted to back the construction of a bike trail along the Oasis Rail Line, but a railroad company with some control over the route still has to be won over if the trail is ever going to be a reality.

 

SORTA's board voted 12-1 for a resolution supporting the trail, clearing the way for Oasis bike trail supporters to finish raising the $4 million they believe will be necessary to build the trail and for Great Parks of Hamilton County to begin planning the route.

 

But the Indiana & Ohio Railway Company and its parent company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. continues to object to the plan and has considerable leverage.

 

Cont

Would Eastern Corridor money stay in Cincy?

 

COLUMBUS – If the state were to cancel Eastern Corridor construction, money allocated for the transportation project could be spent anywhere in the state, under a bill that passed an Ohio Senate committee Wednesday.

 

The $1 billion project, intended to make commutes across eastern Hamilton County and western Clermont County safer and less congested, has been caught up in decades of controversy and bureaucratic indecision. Most of the hand-wringing has centered on a $366 million plan to relocate Ohio 32 through Newtown and Mariemont, much to the dismay of area residents.

 

The Ohio House this month passed a provision requiring the Ohio Department of Transportation to make a decision on the project by Dec. 31. If state officials were to cancel the Ohio 32 relocation, the House bill would have required them to spend the $9.8 million allocated for it elsewhere in Hamilton County.

 

Cont

​ODOT makes decision on State Route 32

 

The Ohio Department of Transportation has killed two key alternatives for the relocation of State Route 32 through the eastern part of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, according to Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel’s office.

 

ODOT officials could not immediately be reached for comment or to confirm the decision to not recommend both the southern and northern rerouting option, the most controversial part of the Eastern Corridor traffic improvement decision.

Yet The Portsmouth  bypass is still a go? That just means the new 32 interchange will never meet it's potential.

Would Eastern Corridor money stay in Cincy?

 

COLUMBUS – If the state were to cancel Eastern Corridor construction, money allocated for the transportation project could be spent anywhere in the state, under a bill that passed an Ohio Senate committee Wednesday.

 

The $1 billion project, intended to make commutes across eastern Hamilton County and western Clermont County safer and less congested, has been caught up in decades of controversy and bureaucratic indecision. Most of the hand-wringing has centered on a $366 million plan to relocate Ohio 32 through Newtown and Mariemont, much to the dismay of area residents.

 

The Ohio House this month passed a provision requiring the Ohio Department of Transportation to make a decision on the project by Dec. 31. If state officials were to cancel the Ohio 32 relocation, the House bill would have required them to spend the $9.8 million allocated for it elsewhere in Hamilton County.

 

Cont

 

Wow. How about that double standard. "We're only going to cancel this road construction project if we get to keep the money and use it for other project in Hamilton County. But, screw the 3C Corridor and the streetcar! Let's cancel those and send the money to other states!"

Glad to hear this news. Proud of all the people who were willing to stand up to odot on this.

Yet The Portsmouth  bypass is still a go? That just means the new 32 interchange will never meet it's potential.

 

How so exactly? They're ~100 miles from each other. Even with the Portsmouth project, I firmly believe the Ohio and WV sections of I-74 won't happen for a very long time if at all. The old 32 interchange was kinda lame honestly and I'm not often for a lot of today's road projects.

I agree that it might never be completed.  But it's definitely under construction as we speak in West Virginia.  I took photos of it in 2013 and it's a spectacular road, hundreds of feet above the valley floors. 

Does it really resemble Interstate grade? Or will they have to spend hundreds of millions again? Interstate grade by then will probably be just as different as the '60s and today.

They are generally grading it as a divided 4-lane, but they're only paving it as a Super-2 like 33 between Athens and Darwin.  What's incredible is that they are building 10-mile sections without a single overpass or underpass or retaining wall by chopping the tops off of the mountains and filling in the valleys in-between.  There was basically zero traffic in the area that was finished in 2013 aside from the occasional pizza man. 

Is state preparing to kill East Side rail project?

 

A do-or-die decision on a proposed East Side commuter rail line could be on the horizon.

 

The state is planning to spend $2 million to complete a study on the Oasis rail line project, which calls for a 17-mile commuter railway between The Banks and Milford. Top state transportation officials told The Enquirer on Monday a decision on whether to move forward with the project could come soon after the study is finished, but they did not provide a specific timetable.

 

The Oasis railway proposal isn't likely to move forward, considering it comes with a $592 million price tag and lacks significant community support. Almost no money is available for the project, so why spend another $2 million in taxpayer money?

 

Meanwhile, work continues on the I-275/OH-32 interchange. The so-called Eastgate Tunnel just opened:

 

I was over in Eastgate 2 weeks ago. And traffic on 32 is BAD. I have no idea why they didn't widen that to Batavia.

That area is generally a disaster.  One of my least favorite places to drive in greater Cincinnati.

I remember rotting in traffic while driving through there on my way to Portsmouth years ago. The entire Judas Priest "Rocka Rolla" record played while I sat there.

Seems like the more traffic engineers engineer highways the worse traffic gets (the more you tighten your grip the more traffic slips through you fingers?).  OH-32 with its limited access points and distributor roads was supposed to be the more modern antidote to Beechmont/Ohio Pike with all the driveways and other streets directly off the highway.  Instead it just seems to generate longer trips and more circuitous routings that exacerbate the problem. 

 

It's sort of like using longer signal timing, which I noticed when I started working in Blue Ash, where they use almost painfully long signals compared to Cincinnati's which are borderline too short.  The logic, much like restricting access points and spacing everything out, is that longer signals mean more vehicles can get through on each green light.  Of course, it also means that more vehicles HAVE to get through because they spent so much time stacking up at the longer red lights.  By the same token, limiting access means that the few accesses there are now have to handle more of the load so they become bottlenecks. 

 

I flew out of Raleigh-Durham yesterday right at the height of the evening rush hour, and while all the highways and major arterial streets were jammed with bumper to bumper traffic, the overwhelming majority of the suburban streets were mostly if not completely empty.  With the desire to make every housing subdivision, apartment complex, office park, and shopping center an isolated pod on a dead-end street, the local streets are being wasted while still engineered to be way too wide and for too high speeds, while the few through streets can never be made big enough to handle the load at peak times. 

Meanwhile, work continues on the I-275/OH-32 interchange. The so-called Eastgate Tunnel just opened:

 

 

neat

Meanwhile, work continues on the I-275/OH-32 interchange. The so-called Eastgate Tunnel just opened:

 

 

neat

 

petite.

Rt 32 is in the running for worst street in the tri state IMO. I also hate Colerain Avenue between Mt. Airy and Mt. Rumpke.

I-275 and OH-32 was the most dangerous interchange in the state under its previous configuration. I have no problem bringing 32 up to interstate standards east of I-275. ODOT just needs to abandon the goal of upgrading 32 within the 275 loop. Traffic from the east can use 32 to 275 to 471 like they do now.

But Manifest Destiny!

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/05/memo-state-moving-east-side-railway/79835442/

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/05/memo-state-moving-east-side-railway/79835442/

 

^ Good. This project was a total loser that would have set back efforts to build regional rail in Greater Cincinnati for many years.

But no mention whatsoever of giving up on the road project. 

But no mention whatsoever of giving up on the road project. 

 

^ it will also collapse of its own weight

ODOT is having an open house in a couple weeks regarding the Eastern Corridor:  http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D08/Newsreleases/Pages/Eastern-Corridor-Public-Open-House-Scheduled-for-March-9,-20170209-7225.aspx

Why? They blocked out the entire floodplain south of Red Bank. There's no project area left to consider.

^The meeting is probably taking place to let people down easy.

It looks like the entire western segment, from the top of the hill by I-275, to I-71, will be refocused on small, impactful improvements. A lot is needed down that way, so I'm interested in seeing where this project evolves.

It looks like the entire western segment, from the top of the hill by I-275, to I-71, will be refocused on small, impactful improvements. A lot is needed down that way, so I'm interested in seeing where this project evolves.

 

To me the western half of this project was always about getting another crossing over the Little Miami. Without that, and major improvements to 32, there is no project.

Not technically part of the Eastern Corridor project, but a new "continuous flow" intersection has been installed at Beechmont Avenue and Five Mile Road in Anderson Township. This is similar to the interchange at Austin Blvd. and OH-741/Springboro Pike.

On 9/3/2015 at 4:06 PM, taestell said:

Meanwhile, work continues on the I-275/OH-32 interchange. The so-called Eastgate Tunnel just opened:

 

 

Less than four years after ODOT reconfigured the entire I-275/OH-32 interchange, they have reconfigured it again.

 

 

As expected, since this is a road project, it gets zero scrutiny from the local media or anti-tax groups.

40 $1+ million homes going up along the Oasis freight railroad...getting commuter rail, passenger rail, or a bike trail built here just got that much harder:

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/CIN/1639788/35-Walworth-Ave-East-End-OH-45226

 

Just think how much the hordes of million dollar home owners will fight any modification to this railroad.  If the barge terminal ever shuts down, they'll fight endlessly to have the rail corridor turned over to public land with no bike trail.  

I'll be interested what happens to the west of this along Hoff Ave. Hoff is a funky little street. Will these new homes be accessible via Hoff?

The "National I-73/I-74/I-75 Corridor Association" is apparently at it again, pushing their vision for more interstates criss-crossing our state:

 

 

FYI, here is what they want to do to Ohio. It seems they have backed off of their I-74 proposal for now and are focusing on I-73:

 

 

It's ridiculous that they wouldn't mark the brand-new Portsmouth Bypass as "complete" -- unless they want to widen what was just built!

 

 

The Portsmouth Bypass is nowhere near Interstate grade. That would have been another $400 million.

I wonder which highway consultants and contractors are funding this seemingly grassroots organization.

13 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

The Portsmouth Bypass is nowhere near Interstate grade. That would have been another $400 million.

 

Looks pretty damn close to me.  Maybe 1-2 of these climbs are a little too steep, but not by much.  

 

 

 

 

Median is too narrow. so are the breakdown lanes. Lucasville/Minford exit would probably need work; it looks like something from the AA Highway or Industrial Parkway in KY. Widening would mean redoing cuts.

On 1/13/2020 at 6:36 PM, taestell said:

The "National I-73/I-74/I-75 Corridor Association" is apparently at it again, pushing their vision for more interstates criss-crossing our state:

 

 

I didn't realize they were back in business. It seemed like they vanished around 2000, in between rounds of term papers I did on I-73 for OSU Geography.

ODOT is having a virtual open house to receive feedback on SR 32 improvements within the village of Newton and separately, at the intersection with Eight Mile Road. For reference, SR 32 gets about 17k cars a day. Both surveys are at the top of the home page: http://easterncorridor.org/

For Newtown:

Quote

IMPROVEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• Create two left turn lanes from Round Bottom Road to eastbound SR 32 by converting the current thru lane for River Hills Drive to a shared thru/left lane and modifying signal operations
• Add a second eastbound through lane from just west of the SR 32/Round Bottom Road intersection to the Little Dry Run Road intersection.  (This lane is needed to accept the dual left turn movement from Round Bottom Road)
• Increase the turn lane length for vehicles turning from SR 32 eastbound to Round Bottom Road so they are not blocked by stopped westbound traffic

CONSIDERATIONS

• Would reduce AM peak delays by approximately 25%
• Would reduce PM peak delays by approximately 60%
• Would need right-of-way acquisitions of non-residential properties along the SR 32 corridor; one commercial building would be impacted

This is one of 8 drawings and there are also 3 alternatives for multi-use tracks
 

For Eight Mile:
 

Quote

Intersection Improvements

The proposed project includes the installation of a signalized continuous ‘Green T’ at SR 32 and Eight Mile Road intersection. The proposed improvements include the following:

• Installation of a proposed traffic signal at the SR 32/Eight Mile Road intersection. The signal will manage flow through the intersection and control turn movements to and from Eight Mile Road.
• Dedication of one lane on SR 32 to allow westbound traffic to flow continuously through the intersection, bypassing the signal.
• Creation of a second eastbound through lane on SR 32 west of the intersection, which will serve as a truck climbing lane.
• Addition of a right turn lane on Eight Mile Road to expand capacity.
• Grade improvements of Eight Mile Road.
• Replacement of existing 72" culvert under Eight Mile Road.

They needed an extra lane in that area for a long time now. 

4 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said:

They needed an extra lane in that area for a long time now. 

For Newtown? Traffic counts indicate that other options can be effective. Continuous left-turn lane? Absolutely. 2 travel lanes? No.

11 foot and 12 foot wide lanes, which are also part of the plan, exacerbate the traffic congestion as well.

The 8 mile intersection looks pretty good I think. That area, between the grade and the visibility, is an unsafe turn/drive - especially as people are turning left on 8 mile and someone on 8 mile is trying to turn left onto 32. Turning right onto 32 from 8 mile is also rough if you have weak acceleration going up that hill to 275 so, again, a light seems like a good solution just based on my user experience. 

 

Throughout Newtown doesn't strike me as needing to be widened - especially at the cost of an existing commercial business/buying ROW but I honestly can't make heads or tails of what it will actually look like from this or which business it is, it's too much back and forth between visuals for my dumb self. I definitely would not mid-block cross 32 as a bike/pedestrian without a signal, but I've never really ran or biked in that general area. 

If you're driving through Newtown every day your commute sucks no matter what.

The Eastern Corridor page has another survey up. This time it's a Virtual Open House for shared-use path connections from the on-going Little Miami Scenic Trail Extension, in Anderson Township, to Ranchvale Drive, in Mt. Washington. The Elstun to Ranchvale section is the responsibility of the City of Cincinnati, who does not currently have any funding assigned to construct it. Somewhat confusingly, Anderson Township also will receive funding from the SORTA Infrastructure Fund for a sidewalk along the east side of Elstun to Spindlehill Drive.

You can see the open house, and leave comments here. The presentation period ends October 26th.