CINCINNATI — Traffic across the Ohio River has no doubt been worse since a fire shut down the southbound lanes of I-471 on the Daniel Carter Beard bridge. A new study shows it's like the sold-out attendance of a Cincinnati Bengals game letting out every day at rush hour on nearby bridges.
A traffic count analyst for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) says 33,000 vehicles per day on average have moved to nearby bridges in the two weeks since the fire and subsequent lane closures.
OKI Traffic Engineering Technician Jersson Pachar said the Taylor-Southgate Bridge (US 27) has experienced the biggest uptick, noting that traffic increased by more than 18,500 vehicles on that bridge the Wednesday after the fire compared to the Wednesday before the fire. The Brent Spence Bridge has experienced the second-biggest uptick, with traffic increasing by more than 14,800 vehicles on that bridge in the same comparison. The Clay Wade Bailey Bridge also saw a 1,400-vehicle increase, and the Roebling Bridge southbound saw more than 2,500 additional vehicles.
Traffic on all of those bridges after major events is always worse, such as when the Cincinnati Reds or Bengals play downtown. The average attendance of a Reds game last season was just under 25,000, with a capacity of 42,271. Paycor Stadium can hold 65,515, and most games are sold out. Assuming that people traveled in a vehicle to those games in pairs, our city is experiencing Bengals game levels of traffic every day as a result of the closure.
For reference, OKI said that on the Wednesday before the fire, 50,000 vehicles traveled southbound on I-471 at the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
Overall, Pachar said bridge crossings are down 10% since the fire, but that's not enough to offset the extra travel times for anyone in and around downtown Cincinnati during evening rush hour.
“This is a regional issue crossing the boundaries of cities and states and impacting the region in many ways, and OKI collects and shares information to inform options and solutions across political boundaries,” said OKI CEO Mark Policinski in a press release about the traffic study.
OKI says it collects traffic counts for the region through 15 counters across the seven Ohio River bridges (not including Purple People).
There is no timeline for the reopening of the southbound lanes of I-471 on the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge. With shoring towers now in place, crews are scheduled to assess the damage Friday to get a better idea of the severity of the damage, and the amount of material that will be needed to repair the bridge.
You can find information about the detours here.
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