The community of College Hill in Cincinnati voted this week to keep current traffic safety measures on North Bend Road from Hamilton to Stella avenues.
The Complete Streets design was implemented last August on Hamilton Avenue from North Bend Road to Hollywood Avenue and North Bend Road between Simpson and Hempwood Avenues.
The Devou Good Foundation worked with the College Hill Forum Community Council and Cincinnati’s Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) to implement a road diet to improve safety, reducing the number of driving lanes from four to two.
“I live on West North Bend Road right in the middle of all the barricades, and I appreciate them,” said Honeykaye Baldridge, a local resident, in a statement.
“Before the barricades, and it was like the Indianapolis 500 every second of the day, night,” Baldridge said.
The community council held an advisory vote to see if the community liked the changes. Over 240 people voted on three different options. Council President David Borreson said they will share the totals with DOTE. He said the city will have the final say on what they decide to do with that stretch of North Bend.
Baldridge along with 125 other people voted for the current format: one traffic lane in each direction, one protected buffer lane and one permanent parking lane.
Ninety-eight people voted for option two: one traffic lane in each direction, one center turn lane and one permanent parking lane.
Only 18 people voted for option three: one traffic lane in each direction, one center turn lane, one protected buffer lane.
Terance Riley was one of the 18 who voted for this option because it took away street parking.
“It can be crazy at times, I guess, with the traffic backing up,” Riley said.
Riley has lived in College Hill for 20 years. He said he does feel like the current street layout does improve safety.
Baldridge said the current street design has made it much easier for her to get in and out of her driveway. She said she doesn’t have to wait for traffic to die down in the library parking lot near her house to pull into her driveway.
“When I first moved into my house a couple of years back I got hit going into my driveway from traffic and the cops cited me for going into my driveway too slow,” Baldridge said.
She said the current design improves safety for her and her neighbors. She hopes the city keeps the current design.
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Source: WCPO.com
