Cincinnati officials have identified nine streets with lots of pedestrian and vehicle crashes to prioritize for street calming projects. In the past two and a half years, more than 120 pedestrian crashes have occurred on these nine streets combined.
"We can't do one thing at one spot to fix the problem," said John Brazina, director of the Office of Transportation and Engineering. "It's the whole corridor that needs to be looked at. And that's why it's such a high dollar amount."
Initial street calming plans for just three of the nine corridors will cost an estimated $11.7 million for design and construction. That includes portions of Linn Street in the West End; Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill; and Winneste Avenue in Winton Hills.
Brazina says improvements on these nine streets will have the most significant impact on reducing future crashes:
- 600 to 1900 blocks of Linn St in the West End
- 3500 to 3700 blocks of Warsaw Ave. in East Price Hill
- 4800 to 4900 blocks of Winneste Ave. in Winton Hills
- 1400 to 2500 blocks of Harrison in South Fairmount and Westwood
- 3400 to 6300 blocks of Glenway Ave. in East and West Price Hill
- 3300 to 4700 blocks of Reading Rd. in Avondale and North Avondale
- 7000 to 7700 blocks of Reading Rd. in Roselawn
- 3000 to 3300 blocks of Burnet Ave. in Corryville
- 2900 to 3500 blocks of Boudinot in Westwood
Note: see a map of all nine streets at the end of this article.
Council approved a large increase to the pedestrian safety and street calming budget this year. Brazina says he's been meeting with community councils.
"Paint and signs only go so far," Brazina said. "Actually physically having them slow down to do the speed limit is the traffic calming that everyone's been asking for."
Brazina says the department is also piloting a program with altered speed bumps that have cutouts to allow emergency vehicles to pass over without slowing down — a project that wouldn't have been possible without the budget increase.
"With that $500,000 we're going to expand this program citywide to the major streets like Harrison, like Reading, as you're entering the neighborhood business districts to get the vehicles to slow down to 25 miles an hour," he said.
The speed cushions will be placed near high-pedestrian areas like schools, parks and rec centers.
The city is also working with community councils on smaller projects like painting crosswalk lines and adding new signage.
Brazina says his department is working on a list of high-priority street calming projects to present to Cincinnati Council next month.
