A plan to slim down the size of Liberty Street as it passes through Over-the-Rhine that has been years in the making is on ice due to budget constraints and expected traffic from FC Cincinnati’s coming stadium, a memo from acting Cincinnati City Manager Patrick Duhaney released today reveals.
The project would have narrowed the seven-lane road down to five lanes during peak hours and three lanes (with parking on both sides of the street) during non-peak hours. It would have also increased sidewalk widths up to 20 feet wide in some locations. But that plan was drawn up before FC Cincinnati’s West End stadium on Central Avenue entered the picture, city planners say. As such, a new traffic study is needed. The city also says it doesn’t have the money to complete the project. Original cost estimates put the price tag for the road-narrowing at $2.3 million. But the city says the relocation of a water main will be more expensive than expected.
“It is critical that we take the necessary time to ensure this $3.2 million project continues to make sense as designed, that the taxpayers are made aware of the true project costs, and that the project is the best use of valuable taxpayer dollars at this time,” Duhaney’s memo reads.
Liberty is the commonly-defined boundary between southern OTR, where development has taken off in recent years, and northern OTR, which has until recently been slower to see rehabs, new businesses and residential construction. Boosters of the project say narrowing the road and widening the sidewalks would serve to increase pedestrian safety and tie the two parts of the neighborhood together.
OTR Community Council approved the plan in 2016 and 2017. The city originally said it had full funding for the project and had planned to take bids this fall and break ground on construction in spring 2019.
“Some of us in #OTR spent years working on this safety plan,” said community council member Margy Waller in a Facebook post. “Meanwhile our neighborhood was excluded from negotiating for community benefits by City Council. Now we’re losing even more.”
But the city says that the street, which runs between entrance and exit ramps to both I-71 and I-75, will see the most traffic from fans flocking to FC Cincinnati’s 21,000-30,000-seat stadium when it is completed by 2021. That means a new traffic study must be conducted to assess how Liberty and surrounding streets, including Central Parkway, will be affected by the change.
“Since the OTR Community Council recommendation in 2016 and 2017, there have been significant changes to the project area,” Duhaney’s memo reads. “Given the circumstances listed above, the administration has determined that the best course of action is to suspend this project pending further evaluation. That does not mean the project cannot be revisited in the future, just that we do not feel it is prudent to move forward at this time.”
Cincinnati City Council members P.G. Sittenfeld and Chris Seelbach have asked that the project be continued. Seelbach said the neighborhood should get what it has worked on, despite changes in traffic patterns FC Cincinnati might bring.
“Our neighborhood is going to have a road diet,” Seelbach said at an Aug. 7 city council committee meeting. “I don’t care if I have to draw up an ordinance to make you guys do this. Billionaires want something done in this city, they get it done.”
“I am fully in support of this initiative, and do not support the abandonment of this important project in any form,” Sittenfeld said in an email to the city manager and other city officials. “Fundamental safety and quality of life issues hang in the balance for many thousands of people. City Hall must prioritize people who live, work and play here; the priority should never be to turn our urban neighborhoods into super-highways simply for the convenience of occasional visitors or those speeding through.”
This article appears in Aug 1-8, 2018.