CINCINNATI — Local groups and individuals are pushing back on current concepts for the Brent Spence Bridge project. On Tuesday, Cincinnati city leaders heard their concerns.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime, or once-in-a-century, opportunity for us,” said Steve Kenat, director of community development at the architecture firm SHP.
Kenat sits on an advisory committee working with the city on the project that serves as a local stakeholder group.
He was one of two individuals who spoke before a Cincinnati City Council committee on Tuesday to share thoughts about alternate designs on the Ohio side of the bridge.
Cincinnati city leaders won’t have the final say, but Councilmember Meeka Owens said they’re interested in learning more about possible options. Then, they could potentially throw weight behind ideas down the line.
“We're talking about a $3 billion investment,” she said. “I think it behooves us to continue to be invested and ask questions on behalf of the City of Cincinnati.”
Kenat believes current plans lack connectivity between the space around the bridge and Cincinnati’s Downtown.
“For the next 50 years, there's really only a limited place that the city, the downtown, can really grow,” he said. “The West End and Queensgate are really that clean slate that we have an opportunity to grow into.”
Kenat said alternate designs can better recapture city blocks and lead to a more significant economic impact.
Council members also heard from Annie White, an urban planning consultant who was approached by the grassroots organization Bridge Forward.
Bridge Forward has put forward three potential design plans as alternatives, with varying amounts of acreage freed up in downtown Cincinnati. White reviewed the organization’s alternate design plans for the project from this summer and looked into economic benefits.
“What we saw is even if what in the scale of Cincinnati is a relatively small area, 25 acres, this project would still have major economic benefits,” White said. “Both with the one-time construction of such a project, but also the year-after-year benefits of creating new space for the city to grow and operate.”
White said this will increase tax revenue, commercial property values and retail sales. The plans also call for additional housing units.
She shared Kenat’s concern about connectivity and walkability with current concepts too.
“Creating a downtown that's more walkable, that's more desirable, is going to have economic benefits for both existing property owners and for the city,” White said.
A representative from ODOT said current plans already incorporate additional land for development and improve connection for biking and walking across the interstate corridor.
Current plans call for new sidewalks and shared-use paths along existing streets that cross the freeway. Aesthetic enhancements include translucent screen walls on overpass bridges.
In a memo from last year, transportation officials affirmed their desire to work with the City of Cincinnati to reclaim land, improve green space and keep a "city feel" under bridges.
Transportation officials from Kentucky and Ohio also reviewed Bridge Forward’s plan submitted in June. Officials said that plan could cost $100 million more than current concepts and cause more traffic congestion.
A representative from ODOT told WCPO Tuesday that alternative design plans that tweak aspects "here and there" would not cause a delay. However, any alternative plan that would cause a “total restart” from current concepts could lead to big delays.
That’s one of David Baker's concerns. He serves as Business Manager for Ironworkers Local 44, a union that serves the Tri-State region.
“Now you want to start changing all the on-ramps coming over the bridge, you're gonna stall this project,” Baker said. “When you do, it's gonna go away.”
Baker said he thinks any stalls would be a “bad move.”
“This project is eight years worth of work for this area, it will build the construction jobs of tomorrow,” he said.
Owens said she’s focused on gathering information and understanding what “should be next.”
“This is a transportation project,” she said. “But we can also make sure that is a project that people can feel and see and access and know that lives are improving as a result.”
ODOT said the contract is still being finalized for the design build team. Once it is, that team will have 60 days to review public input. Final designs are expected to be released after that.
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