CINCINNATI — "It’s like playing Frogger."
Crossing Hamilton Avenue in College Hill brings James O'Loughlin back to a favorite childhood game.
"I think it’s probably one of the scariest public roads you could walk on," he said.
But his feelings have recently changed because of the new traffic safety measures.
"The one thing that we did was we implemented a road diet which brought the number of travel lanes from four to two," said Matt Butler, president of the Devou Good Foundation. "We also put in a protected bike lane, repurposed one of the travel lanes as a protected bike lane and we also implemented protected parking, so curb extensions, bump-outs."
They implemented the changes in August. The "Complete Streets" design is on Hamilton Avenue from North Bend Road to Hollywood Avenue and North Bend Road between Simpson and Hempwood Avenues.
It’s a project Butler has been working on for two years with the College Hill Forum Community Council and the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering. The design is yielding big results.
"We found that the reckless drivers as people going over 50 miles an hour and above was reduced by 90%," Butler said. "Serious injuries and deaths went to zero. We saw that injuries dropped by 90% as well and crashes were down about 30% to 40%."
The Devou Good Foundation conducted a traffic study from Aug. 11 to Nov. 9 and compared it to the same time last year. Last year, there were 61 traffic crashes on Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road. This year, there have been 40.
"Walking on the road prior to this was scary — you would fear for your life," O'Loughlin said. "I avoided this road at all costs."
Vision Zero Cincinnati reports there has also been an economic impact on the city because of the new street design.
"The crash costs in the first 90 days vs. the prior year were reduced from $4.4 million to $385,000. The project investment of $500,000 was economically justified in the first 10 days," Vision Zero Cincinnati said.
According to Cincy Insights, half of all the traffic crashes have happened on Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road in College Hill since 2015.
Butler says the new traffic safety measures slow drivers down.
"Speed is the number one indicator of injury and death and by slowing drivers down in this critical space," he said. "People have a much better reaction time because they’re going a little bit slower."
O'Loughlin said he feels like drivers are taking their foot off the gas.
"Like it feels safer. I mean you still get people going pretty fast, like ... I’m pretty sure that was well over 35, but for the most part it just feels safer as a pedestrian," he said.
While he said the design is not perfect, O'Loughlin said he thinks it keeps people safer.
"You can see the parking blocks come all the way to the curb, so if you ride your bike on the street, there’s not an easy pathway, so it forces you to go on the outside, so I have to be aware of the cars behind me," he said. "But as far as slowing the vehicles down, it does that purpose."
O'Loughlin said he's grateful the Devou Good Foundation stepped in to make this community safer and thinks other cities should take note. Butler said some neighborhoods already have.
"Walnut Hills has reached out to us. We’re talking with them about what can be done in their area. Northside as well has reached out to us. We’re also working in Lower Price Hill," Butler said.
Butler said their next project in College Hill is looking at one of the right turn lanes, specifically the one for people driving north on Hamilton Avenue turning east on North Bend Road.
"One of the turn lanes is very narrow and buses have actually always had a problem turning there; they run overtop of the sidewalk," he said.
Butler encourages people to call their representatives and reach out to the Devou Good Foundation if there is a traffic problem they would like to fix in their area.
