Cincinnati City Council will likely vote on a road diet for Liberty Street again — though the plan before them is a little different than past proposals that council has approved but the city never implemented.
Council’s Budget and Finance Committee today approved a proposal that would reduce Liberty Street to six lanes — four lanes for traffic, a center turn lane and a lane to the south that would prohibit parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. A seventh lane to the north would be for 24-hour parking.
That’s one more lane than the original five-lane plan drawn up after several years of community input and study, but one less lane than an alternate plan that would have added bump-outs to some sections of the road while keeping it at seven lanes. The seven-lane plan would have preserved parking on both sides of Liberty Street. The so-called five-lane plan would have potentially restricted parking on both sides during peak hours.
While the six-lane option seems to have a veto-proof six member majority, not everyone is thrilled with it. Council member David Mann voted against the proposal because he felt more time was needed to vet the new proposal.
Liberty runs between the northern and southern halves of Over-the-Rhine. Supporters of narrowing the street say the artery, widened in the late 1950s, is a barrier for pedestrian flow between the two sides of OTR. But those opposed to narrowing the street point out that it connects the neighborhood and the West End to both I-71 and I-75, and that the coming FC Cincinnati soccer stadium is likely to bring more congestion and traffic to the area.
Cranley, along with some other critics like representatives from nearby Chatfield College and the Freestore Foodbank, have also cited concerns about parking along the street.
Council member Chris Seelbach, who championed the original five-lane plan, called the new proposal “a compromise.” He said that while not everyone will be happy with it, it is better than keeping the road at its current width.
Council will likely vote to give final approval to the road diet at its meeting Wednesday.
This article appears in Apr 24 – May 1, 2019.