These are some pictures that I took downtown a few weeks ago. Central Parkway has all the makings of being a great area of town, and Broadway Commons is a blank slate with endless limitations.

 

 

I think this would make a great pocket park with that mural in the background. It's really depressing to see a surface lot making this beautiful mural really loose some of its luster. It would be nice if Kroger would pitch in the money and get something nice like that.

 

 

This could be converted into some pretty sweet lofts

 

 

 

Thanks for the help figuring that out rando.

good call for a thread. that is a great cache of nice buildings, along with...let's be positive here...a tabla rasa of parking. i'm not crazy about the mural, but its ok.

 

can anyone say what the digging and construction in a few of those pics is about?

It the redevelopment plan for central parkway's "Green Space" (or lack therefore) you can see the plans on Human Nature's website http://humannature.cc/index.asp?page=open_central_parkway I talked to the guy who designed it, and he said they were very limited as to what they were able to do. The Transportation Dept. would not allow them to get rid of any of the paved areas to add greenspace even though at one time the land did belong to the parks system. I'm not crazy about the design, materials chosen, or the modern art, but they are all a welcomed improvement.

ah i see. thx.

 

i'd bet that landscaping really will help call attention to those areas and bring on redevelopment.

can anyone say what the digging and construction in a few of those pics is about?

 

The big hole in the ground is for the new School of Creative and Performing Arts...the first K-12 public arts school in the nation.

 

BTW BDRUF, that is a pretty good idea about the pocket park for the lot in front of the Cincinnatus mural.  Too bad it will probably never happen.

^

Yeah it is unfortunate because it is located directly across the street from a fortune 500 co. and it really wouldn't cost a great deal and the visual impact that it would have on that area would be remarkable. Those are the kind of things that make cities great. We are so close, but it's little things like that, that need to change.

I think this would make a great pocket park with that mural in the background. It's really depressing to see a surface lot making this beautiful mural really loose some of its luster. It would be nice if Kroger would pitch in the money and get something nice like that.

 

I can't imagine that space gets much sun.  If it were a park, it strikes me that it would end up being a hang-out for smokers who work at Kroger.

 

It the redevelopment plan for central parkway's "Green Space" (or lack therefore) you can see the plans on Human Nature's website http://humannature.cc/index.asp?page=open_central_parkway I talked to the guy who designed it, and he said they were very limited as to what they were able to do. The Transportation Dept. would not allow them to get rid of any of the paved areas to add greenspace even though at one time the land did belong to the parks system. I'm not crazy about the design, materials chosen, or the modern art, but they are all a welcomed improvement.

 

I don't understand the need to have all the turning lanes and such.  If you want people to use the median as greenspace, it has to stay a uniform width throughout, and be wide enough so that people actually can do something there without feeling like they are isolated on a little island in the midst of dangerous man-eating traffic.

Is underneath Central Pkwy where there infamous subway tunnels run?  If so, thanks for the pics, I wanted a closer look.

Is underneath Central Pkwy where there infamous subway tunnels run?  If so, thanks for the pics, I wanted a closer look.

 

Yes.

 

 

I don't understand the need to have all the turning lanes and such.  If you want people to use the median as greenspace, it has to stay a uniform width throughout, and be wide enough so that people actually can do something there without feeling like they are isolated on a little island in the midst of dangerous man-eating traffic.

 

Yeah, I don't know why Central Pkwy has to have so many lanes.  I honestly don't think it would affect traffic if one or two lanes were taken away.  Central Parkway never seems to get very backed up.

^In fact, for the past several months one-lane in each direction has been removed during construction, and traffic ran fine.  Why do traffic engineers seem to have veto power over so many projects?

I don't understand the need to have all the turning lanes and such.

 

Hey we have it good in that sense when compared to other places that have decell lanes.  These are an additional lane that is there to accomodate right-hand turning traffic.  So you've got your left-hand turn lanes, and your decell lanes...often time those decell lanes are extended into acell lanes for right hand turning traffic coming onto a more heavily traveled road.  This allows for traffic to never have to slow down...yikes.

LK and XU - When the recent subway study was done to see if the subway tunnels could be used for light rail, the study indicated that a new station at Race & Central Parkway would probably require removal of the turn lane from westbound Central Parkway to southbound Race Street.  The transportation folks didn't really like the idea of losing the turn lane.  I remember thinking to myself that I didn't think it would be a big deal . . . but it raised some eyebrows.  Again, that was only IF the subway was ever going to be used. 

Those people are soley doing what they're trained to do...and that is moving people from Point A to Point B in the quickest fashion.  The removal of turn lanes, the timing lights with buses and/or streetcars, brick crosswalks, etc, etc all get in the way of this.

let's not consider a subway because we will lose a turn lane? whaa? ah gawd why am i not surprized?  :roll:

 

good news is i bet the people who all but said that will be retiring soon.  :laugh:

 

 

Well, they basically said that if it came to that they would just have to study the traffic counts, etc. and see what eliminating the lane would do.  That wouldn't be a deal breaker but it would just need to be studied more. 

Ironically ODOT and its silly rules are actually keeping some things from happening...in Cincinnati the Martin Luther King I-71 interchange is a big example.  Apparently ODOT requires all new interchanges to be full interchanges...originally (rumor alert -- I haven't actually read this) ramps were to be split between Martin Luther King Drive and Blair Ave. (which explains the oversized Blair Ave. overpass) but due to the new design regulations the ramps all have to lead to Martin Luther King Dr., meaning incredibly long ramps, massive retaining wall reconstruction, removal and reconstruction of the Lincoln Ave. and Oak St. overpasses, etc., etc.  All told a project that could approach $100 million, or somewhere in the neighborhood of the amount to get the existing subway fit for operation or construction of the proposed Mt. Auburn Tunnel. 

let's not consider a subway because we will lose a turn lane? whaa? ah gawd why am i not surprized?  :roll:

 

good news is i bet the people who all but said that will be retiring soon.  :laugh:

 

 

 

 

I have heard this type of talk from three other people this week!!!!!   (not on this site)   Let's hope!!

Were you taking pictures in City West last week? or if not who was it here??

  Can't wait for something big to happen at Broadway.  I think there should be a large Light Rail/Streetcar/bus termimal with moving walkways towards downtown. Heck there is a subway tube a few blocks west of there. Perfect site for all transit uses

^

Nope it wasn't me

 

Ooh, the most "Columbus" part of downtown Cincinnati. At least things are looking up and we can expect less lots in each.