I see the Enquirer thinks they are slick and no longer allow hot linking, well I will host them on my server then

 

WATCH VIDEO!

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050125/NEWS0103/50124002

 

 

Northern Kentucky officials hope to win a $4.9 million federal grant for a three-mile walkway linking Bellevue, Newport and Covington along the Ohio River.

 

• Estimated cost of all riverfront improvements: $17 million to $20 million.

 

• Development officials will visit Washington next week, seeking the $4.9 million and lobbying for other causes.

 

 

The USS Narwhal, a decommissioned nuclear submarine, would float on barges in the Ohio River as an educational tool for students around the region. Simulators in the sub, at Holmes High School and on a truck would use key science concepts. Story, A5

MAC Productions Inc./Artist's rendering

 

N. Ky. envisions walkway along Ohio River

3-mile-long path would link Covington, Newport and Bellevue

 

By Mike Rutledge

Enquirer staff writer

 

NEWPORT - The next big thing for Northern Kentucky's riverfront might be a walkway that links all the other big things that have happened lately along the Ohio River.

 

Tourists and locals routinely go to Newport on the Levee, the Newport Aquarium, the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, restaurants in Covington and Bellevue, and the Purple People Bridge - sometimes on their way to Reds games at Great American Ball Park.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050125/NEWS01/501250354

 

I went ahead and moved this, since it's been in talks for a couple of years and is likely to happen in some form.

From the 1/27/05 Cincinnati Post:

 

 

Newport undertakes riverfront park project

By Jeanne Houck

Post staff reporter

 

For years, what passed as a festival park along Newport's Riverboat Row was an uneven parking lot at the bottom of a sloping floodwall -- a concrete place to convene with no landscaping, places to sit or permanent restrooms.

 

But under an ambitious park expansion plan already started, the site could become one of the prime riverfront entertainment and viewing locales in Greater Cincinnati, rivaling those across the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati.

 

http://www.cincypost.com/2005/01/27/fest012705.html

 

This is a really great idea.  The riverfront around the Purple People Bridge is already quite walkable, this just makes a good situation better.  I hope they can find a way to make the bridge happen.

 

  The New Central Bridge has some good points and bad points. The good points are that there are generous sidewalks on each side. They run alongside the highway in the normal way. In addition, there is a connection from the west sidewalk to the Coliseum plaza, and there is a connection from the sidewalks to the ground on the Kentucky side near the levee.

 

    On the bad side, the sidewalks should have connected to the top of the levee. To get from the bridge to the top of the levee, one has to go down a lot of steps to the ground and then back up.

 

  Adding that connection, as well as making a path along the top of the levee underneath the bridge, would do a lot to tie that area together.

 

    The proposed pull bridge is silly. There would be a lot of conflicts with the navigation, and difficulties with a changing water level. There is already a path to the existing bridge, although the sidewalk is narrow.

 

 

   

BTW...on the link at the end of the story I posted there's a rendering for the Newport part.  It's pretty crappy and small, though.

An update on the submarine project for Newport, from the 3/30/05 Cincinnati Post:

 

 

Submarine project leader quits

By Peggy Kreimer

Post staff reporter

 

The effort to bring a decommissioned Navy submarine to the Newport riverfront is moving forward with its education programs and fund-raising efforts, but without the man who forged the dream.

 

R. Thomas Schram has stepped down as executive director of the National Submarine Science Discovery Center because the project hasn't brought in enough money to pay him and he can't afford to continue to volunteer.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050330/NEWS01/503300357

 

From the 8/23/05 Kentucky Post:

 

 

Pulling together on riverfront

Walkway to link development

By Bob Driehaus

Post staff reporter

 

Covington's Riverfront West development plan has languished in different forms since the late 1990s.

 

Dayton has yet to see the kind of riverfront renaissance under way elsewhere, and Bellevue and Newport want to capitalize on the successes of the last decade.

 

http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050823/NEWS02/508230370/1014

 

They should tunnel under the Licking.  Because you know if they build any kind of bridge, they're going to put an illuminated sign with NORTHERN KENTUCKY in a festive shopping mall font.  And they'll paint the bridge purple. 

"To link or not to link is the question" but in this case the answer is obvious.  What will the riverfront look like in 10  years, Riverfront Commons and the Banks will be great additions but will these developments look like any "metro" USA.  It seems like all of the second tier metros (everything outside the top 5 and top 10) have very similar plans for their waterway interests.

I can't find a larger rendering, so the tiny pic in the link below will have to do.  From the 8/28/05 NKY Sunday Challenger:

 

 

PHOTO: A COMPONENT: The Riverfront West project in Covington would be along the path of the Riverfront Commons project. Important goals for the Riverfront West project include developing a park-like setting along the Ohio River.  Courtesy City of Covington

 

Riverfront Could Become a Walk in the Park

'Commons' Would Link Covington, Dayton

By Amanda Van Benschoten

The Sunday Challenger

[email protected]

 

COVINGTON - If a coalition of area leaders and businesses has its way, visiting the Northern Kentucky riverfront could become a walk in the park - literally.

 

Southbank Partners hopes to connect existing and future Northern Kentucky riverfront development with a long, park-like walkway that would run parallel to the Ohio River from Covington to Dayton. "Riverfront Commons" is envisioned as an effort that unites each river city's plan for its own banks into a regional attraction.

 

http://www.challengernky.com/articles/2005/08/28/around_nky/doc430f5d8ee45ea786553799.txt

 

The Northern Kentucky Consensus Committee has identified Riverfront Commons as a high-priority project, as is seeking $8 million from the Kentucky General Assembly in 2006.

 

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2005/09/12/daily25.html?jst=b_ln_hl

 

From the 9/11/05 Enquirer:

 

 

Sub's parking spot funded

By Mike Rutledge

Enquirer staff writer

 

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis has won $100,000 in federal funding to plan Newport's Riverfront Commons area, which is to be home of the USS Narwhal, a 314-foot deactivated nuclear submarine, he announced Thursday.

 

He also captured $100,000 to plan Licking River flood control for Cynthiana and Nicholas County, and $150,000 for methamphetamine enforcement and cleanup for Boyd and Greenup counties.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051111/NEWS0103/511110424/1059/rss13

 

Submarine not coming to Newport

 

By Peggy Kreimer and Tom O'Neill

Post staff reporters

 

 

The plan to bring a decommissioned nuclear submarine to the Newport riverfront has sunk, but the in-school education program partnered with it will steam on.

 

Peter Kay, board chair of the nonprofit National Submarine Science Discovery Center, confirmed Wednesday how the deal for the submarine's procurement collapsed.

From the 8/14/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: Jason Reser, owner of Reser Bicycle Outfitters in Newport, is seeking a walking and biking trail along the Ohio River's southern shore.  File photo

 

Input sought on path plan

BY MIKE RUTLEDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

NEWPORT - It's not easy to bicycle along Northern Kentucky's Ohio River shoreline in Covington, Newport and Bellevue, but Jason Reser hopes that will change someday.

 

"A few of my customers in Covington, they'll go ride along the riverfront," said the owner of Reser Bicycle Outfitters in Newport, a few blocks up Monmouth Street from the river. "But the thing is, the bridge there right now (connecting 4th Streets of Covington and Newport) is pretty narrow.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060814/NEWS0103/608140357/1059/rss13

 

Huh....Nky trying to catch up to Cincy.  Who knew, I had thought that Nky was superior to Cincy in every facet of life :roll:

 

I am very proud of the great riverfront park network that Cincinnati has worked hard on for years.  A trail will be a good step for Nky, but the next piece would be to remove that podunk town version of a flood wall and get urban like Cincy.

Same event, two vastly different headlines:

 

 

NEGATIVE:

 

Walking path splits neighbors

Bike trail would hug shore, link river cities

BY MIKE RUTLEDGE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

NEWPORT - More than 60 people at Thursday's public hearing about a proposed walking and bicycling path linking the Ohio River shorelines of Bellevue, Newport and Covington split into two groups: Those excited about the plan, and nearby residents who are worried about it.

 

People living in Covington's Licking-Riverside neighborhood and some with properties along the Ohio River shore in Bellevue were most concerned about disruptions that could be caused by users of the proposed path, called Riverfront Commons. The first phase would extend about three miles from the new WatersEdge condominiums in Bellevue to the former Covington Landing site.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060818/NEWS01/608180356/1010/RSS01

 

Be sure to check out the correction after this story.  From the 9/29/06 Kentucky Post:

 

 

Bridge over Licking for bike trail debated

By James Proffitt

Post contributor

 

Concerns about a proposed biking and cycling trail along the Northern Kentucky riverfront seem to be honing in on the major geographic obstacle to the project becoming reality - the Licking River.

 

At a second public meeting on the Riverfront Commons trail Thursday night at Covington City Hall, some residents of Covington's Historic Licking Riverside neighborhood questioned how a bridge to carry the trail across the river might affect their area.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060930/NEWS02/609300334/1011/RSS02

 

Where can I buy a bike in Cincinnati? The place near UC has bikes ranging from like 600-3000, unfortunately I'm looking for something in the vicinity of CHEAP AS HELL.

Where can I buy a bike in Cincinnati? The place near UC has bikes ranging from like 600-3000, unfortunately I'm looking for something in the vicinity of CHEAP AS HELL.

I would recommend used before buying a "department store" bicycle.  Those Wal*Mart-price bicycles get out of tune quickly.  Look into a "single speed" if you ride somewhere with scant hills.  You will save a lot of money and the bike won't be attractive to thieves.

Where can I buy a bike in Cincinnati? The place near UC has bikes ranging from like 600-3000, unfortunately I'm looking for something in the vicinity of CHEAP AS HELL.

BioWheels moved out to Milford or something.

They had $200 - 300 bikes

After that there is always Schwinn.

There is also the Queen City Bicycle co-op which appears to have a dead website. They are in the West End I believe.

Where can I buy a bike in Cincinnati? The place near UC has bikes ranging from like 600-3000, unfortunately I'm looking for something in the vicinity of CHEAP AS HELL.

I would recommend used before buying a "department store" bicycle.  Those Wal*Mart-price bicycles get out of tune quickly.

 

I'll second that! Department-store and discount-store bikes are often made with inferior materials that won't hold up, and sometimes they come right out of the box with mismatched components that will never fit right or work right.

 

Shop the name-brand bikes in reputable bike shops to get some idea what you would really like to have, and then see how close you can come to it in a used bike from the classifieds or from a bike shop that takes trade-ins. Once in a while you can get lucky and score something really nice from a thrift store for a cheap price if you know what you're looking for and your timing is right. With spring coming, you might even find someone who is graduating or leaving school and wants to sell a bike.

Where can I buy a bike in Cincinnati? The place near UC has bikes ranging from like 600-3000, unfortunately I'm looking for something in the vicinity of CHEAP AS HELL.

I just heard of this place - another co-op

http://www.myspace.com/mobobicyclecoop

Plan to protect shore in works

BY GREG PAETH | CINCINNATI POST

 

Within the next 60 days, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to release a master plan for the riverbank stabilization/recreational project that would run along the Ohio River shore from Covington to Bellevue.

 

A boom in development along the riverfront has created a fresh sense of urgency about protecting the shoreline from the ravages of the river.

$16.2M sought for trail

Federal funding described as iffy

BY CINDY SCHROEDER | [email protected]

April 25, 2007

 

Backers of Riverfront Commons, a walking and bicycling path linking the Ohio River shorelines of three Northern Kentucky cities, are lobbying for $16.2 million in federal money for the first phase of the $50 million project.

 

"Most of that (federal) money would go toward erosion and flood control," Wally Pagan, president of Southbank Partners, told Covington City Commission on Tuesday. The group promotes economic development along Northern Kentucky's riverfront.

Improving Cincinnati's bike scene

BY RANDY A. SIMES | URBANCINCY

November 14, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati is great...it's a very walkable city that has interesting streetscapes that do not completely bend over backwards to accommodate the automobile. I also feel that Cincinnati has a pretty strong bicyclist contingent... but with that said, I also think we should be doing a lot more to provide safe bicycle networks and parking facilities.

 

Portland is a city that is often thrown around as a poster child for a lot of things. But you know what...they simply do a lot of things right, and bicycling is one of those. You can request free bike racks, from the city, and even check out their standards if you so choose to install your own. Portland even has a master bike plan that has routes and parking facilities mapped out.

 

Now this has me asking myself...what could be done in Cincinnati to improve the bicycle situation here. Sure we have racks installed randomly, but Cincinnati's existing bicycle plan seems to be lacking. Furthermore I don't believe I've ever seen a covered bicycle parking facility in this city, or even a plan to install one. With Portland's bicycle parking options you can actually even request to have a facility installed that would provide on-street bike parking...taking up roughly 1.5 on-street parking spaces, and it would provide parking for 12 bikes.

 

All in all, it seems like something worthwhile for the city to pursue. You could reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, improve fitness levels, offer greater amounts of parking options and just make the city a more attractive place for those who choose to travel by bike. Given the recent progress of streetcars it would seem to be an attractive opportunity for the city to pursue.

 

Bicycling in Cincinnati:

MoBo Bicycle Co-op

Bike Trails in the Tri-State

Trail Yeah

Trek Cincinnati

Morning Glory Bike Ride

 

Bike Oasis Covered Bicycle Parking Facility

www.streetsblog.org

Very cool bike "oasis" !

 

 

While that is very nice and should be implemented in the future, I think money should be spent first on getting a wealth of bike racks in the city. Improvements can be handled after a central core of racks are installed, such as shelters that can be constructed over existing racks, and so forth.

While that is very nice and should be implemented in the future, I think money should be spent first on getting a wealth of bike racks in the city. Improvements can be handled after a central core of racks are installed, such as shelters that can be constructed over existing racks, and so forth.

 

According to the City of Cincinnati's website there are 200+ bike racks currently installed in the city.  This is pathetic when you compare this to Portland's 2,000+ (and rapidly growing) bike racks.

True. Do you (or anyone) see them occupied much during the day?

What I think would work better is a good mix of bike racks (for short term users) and bike lockers for downtown workers.... not to mention places where you can shower and change clothes.

True. Do you (or anyone) see them occupied much during the day?

 

It depends where you're at...Uptown area (UC, Medical Campus, Clifton, etc) = yes...Downtown = somewhat.  It really just varies on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis.

 

What I think would work better is a good mix of bike racks (for short term users) and bike lockers for downtown workers.... not to mention places where you can shower and change clothes.

 

Yeah, the bike lockers seem like an especially good idea.  Not only do they protect your bike from the elements, but they also provide an added security bonus.  You feel much more comfortable leaving your bike in one of these lockers than you do when you simply chain it to something.  They also do not take up all that much space.

 

Here are a couple examples...some are just downright hideous, but when done tastefully they can actually look quite nice.

Well, I have the standard "u-lock" for my bike and they can only be removed with a plasma torch. The locks are insured so that if your bike _is_ stolen with the lock in use, the company will fund a full replacement.

 

They make a "u-lock" for a moped which is a cheap $40. Secure it to your wheel and to a post.

OK Seicer! You got your wish. I did a search and found some interesting pics of bike paths in Holland. Here's the link:

 

http://www.alanthomasmoore.com/dutchbicycling/paths/paths.html

 

The pics might take a while to load...the way out stuff is in the last couple of pages. note how the bike is treated as an equal to the auto.

Well, I have the standard "u-lock" for my bike and they can only be removed with a plasma torch. The locks are insured so that if your bike _is_ stolen with the lock in use, the company will fund a full replacement.

 

This is true...but a bird could still sh!t on it, or a drunk college kid could puke on it, or someone could take pieces of it off for scraps.

^^ Oh my, thank you for sharing that! I'm very jealous right now.

 

 

That is some beautiful brick streets. Great use of striping. It reminds me of what they did to the Arena District in Columbus.

Please don't compare Cbus' Arena District to Holland again.

:P

 

I was comparing the lane markings, silly.

Well, I have the standard "u-lock" for my bike and they can only be removed with a plasma torch. The locks are insured so that if your bike _is_ stolen with the lock in use, the company will fund a full replacement.

 

They make a "u-lock" for a moped which is a cheap $40. Secure it to your wheel and to a post.

 

you can split them open with a hydrolic jack

Well, I have the standard "u-lock" for my bike and they can only be removed with a plasma torch. The locks are insured so that if your bike _is_ stolen with the lock in use, the company will fund a full replacement.

 

This is true...but a bird could still sh!t on it, or a drunk college kid could puke on it, or someone could take pieces of it off for scraps.

 

I know of a case where a thief hacksawed through a sign post to steal a bike that was locked to it with an unbreakable lock. I've heard of the same thing with parking meter posts and small trees. In a downtown area you'd think people would take notice and challenge the thief, but they don't. The don't want to get involved, and it's not their bike.

Those numbers don't surprise me at all- they're leaving bikes out on the street, 24/7, for all to use.  I would expect significant, continued loss of bikes from the system.  It sounds bad, but it is really a sort of operating cost.  One to be minimized of course, but it will probably always be significant none the less.  I would imagine those funding the program would understand that as well.

 

It would be cool to see something like this in Cleveland.

I recently got a new bike, a Specialized Globe, which is designed and marketed as a commuter bike.  I paid $520 for it, a similar Specialized model with front shocks sells for $100 more. 

 

 

 

It replaces my mountain bike I bought in 2002 which was borrowed but never returned by the shady friend of a shady roommate.  I rode over 100 miles a week for years when I had no car and even though I have since bought a car I prefer biking anytime, anywhere. 

 

I really like this new bike.  I was initially skeptical of a dedicated commuter bike, but was quickly sold when I rode it.  The frame is very lightweight and the components are excellent.  Accelleration and climbing hills is much easier on this lighter bike.  It's sold stock with narrow road tires which seem rugged enough.  For theft prevention it is sold with no quick release on either the front tire or seat post.     

 

This bike is sold stock with flat pedals, I am definitely going to get clips soon.  The lack of clips makes curb jumping difficult.  This along with the lack of shocks prevents aggressive riding.  I find the forward seating position to be unstable for fast coasting downhill, I have to lift up and back of the seat to stay in control at high speed.  I anticipate that this instability will be reduced or eliminated with toe clips.  I've had toe clips since I was 12, in a lot of common situations (fast braking, etc.) I find myself about to fall off the thing since I forget I don't have them.       

 

The bike was not comfortable in the store when I sat on it but I was immediately sold when I took it for a spin around the parking lot.  With the exception of the pedals, all the stock components are excellent on this bike so I consider it a good buy.   

Good choice! It will be a lot easier on the road than a typical road bike, given that the tire profile is slightly larger and the wheels a little more heavy. You will so desire clips -- it makes pedaling, especially on grades, a lot easier, and gives you a greater workout. I can't tell what seat you have on there, but you may consider a lightweight component seat that won't absorb water -- it's a little pricey, but it saves weight and won't hold liquid.

nice choice.  you might want to add some fenders too.  a true commuter must ride home in all weather.  or in the case of cleveland...most weather.  blizzard biking is not recommended.  the pedals are likely cheap wellgo jobbers that they put on all new bikes, even the super expensive ones.  it is an assumed upgrade.  and if you don't own one already...buy a helmet!  cars are made of metal, you are not.

 

oh, and have fun.  there is nothing like the feeling of pedaling home after a long day at work.   

Luckily where I work I can bring the bike inside so the wet seat is not so much of an issue, although I went 4 years without a car so I rode plenty of times in the rain.  Everyone hates getting caught in summer thunderstorms while on paved trails, I've never understood why they can't build little shelters every mile or two.  One time I hung out in the cab of an abandoned Ford pickup waiting for the rain to end. 

 

This year I want to ride between Cincinnati and Columbus at least once.  Putting the bike on the front of the Fields-Ertel express bus gets you about 22 miles in the right direction (and avoids most of the major hills to be encounted on the route), after which it's about a 90 mile flat ride on U.S. 22 with plenty of towns to take breaks and get food and drinks.  Easily doable in 8 hours.   

 

I'm also thinking about taking it on Amtrak, although I haven't been able to find whether The Cardinal still allows roll-on biking.  The whole boxing matter is a bunch of rubbish, it turns taking the bike into a big hassle.  If not for the boxing, I could simply coast down to the train station at 2am, roll it on, and roll off in Washington, DC and/or New York.  With the boxing nonsense you have to literally strap the box to your back while riding to the station, partially disassemble the bike in the station, then reassemble it at the destination while keeping the box intact for the return trip.  Now when you do get home you can just throw out the box and ride home, but still, what a hassle.  Of the four trips to and from the stations, only one trip is unencumbered by the box.     

Cin Weekly in Cincinnati just ran a feature on alternative commutes...the writer biked one day and complained about the Delta Ave. "hill", saying she had to get off and walk.  It's about a 3% grade for one mile, totally weak compared to any of the city's real hills or the monsters across the river in Kentucky.  I haven't walked my bike up a hill since I was about 7.  I grew up in a hilly neighborhood where you were heckled if you walked your bike up hills or showed any strain while climbing them so at an early age you learned to keep a cool face.  I remember as a kid when we were riding in packs the show-offs would loop back down under younger kids riding up the same hill just to pass them two times.       

 

I refute the argument that Cincinnati is a bad biking town...it's just the opposite.  And since people here hate bikes and there are hardly any bike lanes, you don't ride with any expectation that people notice you, meaning you ride more defensively.  In a lot of towns I've found the bike lanes to be more dangerous than simply riding in traffic since you run such a risk of being doored by parked cars.  And people really get made if your ride in traffic instead of the bike lanes where they exist.     

Commuting by bike in Cincinnati shifts into gear

http://www.soapboxmedia.com/features/27bikeadvocacy.aspx

 

Bicycle commuting isn’t inherently something you think about in hilly Cincinnati, but the topic got a huge awareness boost recently when the city’s Park Board announced a bicycle center as part of its new Riverfront Park. It would allow for secure parking, showers, clothes-changing and storage.

 

And now, the possibilities of commuting are being pursued with renewed enthusiasm on several fronts, helped by rising gas prices and increasing green consciousness.

 

Ideas are emerging or being reenergized about commuting routes – shared roadway lanes as well as dedicated trails – along rivers in Ohio and Northern Kentucky, down relatively flat city parkways, even through the woods of Ault Park to an existing trail along Red Bank Expressway.

 

There are also new ideas for programs in support of commuting – putting secure bike storage in office buildings and city parking garages; getting employers to pay a mileage reimbursement to commuting cyclists.

 

This comes at a time when a count by Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments of bicyclists during peak commuting hours – at two locations on single day in May – showed a marked increase from 2007. There were 40% more in O’Bryonville and a 15% increase at Pete Rose Way downtown. (A third count, in Clifton, was at an intersection not surveyed in 2007.) “We’re observing a lot more people cycling,” says Don Burrell, OKI’s bicycle/pedestrian coordinator.

 

Some of the new ideas are “blue sky” stuff, true. But until very recently so was the idea of a downtown bike center for commuters (and recreational users) in Cincinnati.

 

But the Park Board is now planning to break ground at 10 a.m. on Sept. 29th for the first phase of its ambitious Riverfront Park, the 40-acre “front yard” of the city being built in tandem with The Banks. And the bike center will be part of it, tucked into space under and near the Walnut Street Fountain and Grand Stairway and the East Event Lawn & Stage. It is tentatively scheduled for 2010 completion. (Riverfront Park, itself, will have a dedicated bike trail running its length and connecting to an in-the-works Ohio River Trail.)

 

“Our goal is to be one of the first in the area to have a bike center, because there are a lot of people who ride bikes to work,” says Marijane Klug, manager, financial services, for the Cincinnati Park Board.

 

The decision to build it resulted from trips that Klug, Director of Parks Willie F. Carden Jr., and Steven Schuckman, superintendent of planning & design, took in 2006 to Manhattan’s new shoreline bike trails and Chicago’s Millennium Park. In Chicago, they were delighted to see the park’s Bike Station, built to encourage commuting to downtown from along the Lake Michigan shore. The heated indoor center has 300 bike parking spaces plus lockers, showers, a snack bar, repair shop and rental area.

 

“That’s when we said we have to build a bike center,” Schuckman says.

 

Actually, many other cities want or have bike stations, too. Washington, D.C. plans to open a 150-bike facility by spring next year at its Union Station commuter hub. Denver has one for 150 bikes, plus showers and storage, near a trail connecting downtown with suburbs. And a Long Beach company called Bikestation has facilities in five California cities and Seattle.

 

Cincinnati’s bike center, as it is now envisioned, will have two desks – one for general information about the park, the other for rentals of bikes and Segways. (Borrowing an idea from Louisville, the Park Board may also put bike-rental racks in various parks, accessible by swiping credit cards, so visitors can get around without driving.

 

Two subsequent rooms would have half-size lockers, toilets, three shower stalls each, and storage space for bikes. This could change, as the Park Board gauges demand. Regular commuters will be able to buy memberships to use the center. The Park Board already is planning a second, much-larger bike center by the Vine Street Fountain and Grand Stairway, planned for a later phase of Riverfront Park development.

 

If the enthusiasm of one bike commuter is any indication, demand will be keen. “I think it will be huge,” says Rob Currens, 52, who rides from near Ault Park to his job at Longworth Hall, just west of the Brent Spence Bridge near downtown. He travels mostly along relatively Eastern Avenue/Riverside Drive, along the river, and passes near the future site of the bike center. “That’s the kind of thing that makes a world-class city – having progressive ideas about bicycling as a viable form of commuting,” he says.

 

While various problems still are being thrashed out with the unbuilt portions of the projected 16-mile Ohio River Trail, from Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park east along Eastern Avenue/Riverside Drive, some real progress is being made further out.

 

The city is set to accept bids for a ½-mile connector from the five-mile Lunken Playfield Loop Trail to Kellogg Avenue at Carrel Street in Columbia-Tusculum, where it eventually will connect with the Ohio River Trail. Construction will start after some sewer-line work, says Jim Coppock, of Cincinnati Transportation and Engineering Department’s Bicycle Transportation Program.

 

The city also has earmarked $2.2 million to design for bikes a bridge over the Little Miami River at Kellogg Avenue to take bikes from Lunken to the future southern terminus of the Little Miami Trail being planned by Hamilton County Parks District.

 

Meanwhile, Anderson Township has received funding to build a 3.1-mile extension of the well-used Little Miami Trail from its current Newtown terminus south to Clough Pike. It plans to start construction in 2012.

 

Anderson also will start construction next year on a 1½-mile spur of the Ohio River Trail – which is ultimately planned to connect Cincinnati with New Richmond – along Kellogg between Sutton and Five Mile roads.

 

Linking the Little Miami, Lunken and Ohio River trails is believed crucial for cycling’s future in Cincinnati, which is why various agencies are trying so hard to get it done.

 

“We have 100 people right now who commute by bike from Anderson Township to the city,” says Tom Caruso, the township’s trails coordinator, who says they mostly ride on streets along the river. “We anticipate when all this is built as an off-road corridor, a lot more people will commute.

 

“And we also believe people will come here to ride the bicycle corridor. So there’s a lot of economic benefit, environmental benefit and just physical well-being at stake in this.”

If only Cincinnati still had at least some of its inclines. It seems to me they would be a blessing to bicycle commuters.

The Pulse will be running an article on bicycle commuting and bicycling in general soon.

Lack of vision, planning and investment have made Cincinnati a 'bike unfriendly' city

http://citybeat.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A145988

 

It's difficult to ride a bicycle in Cincinnati, and not just because it's hilly and the weather sucks and our neighborhoods sprawl 30 miles away into another counties and states.

 

It's not because there are few bike racks and even fewer bike lanes. It's not because each neighborhood presents its own set of problems for planners and engineers or the fact that Cincinnati hasn't had a planning department since 2002.