CINCINNATI — Cincinnati city leaders say they have a plan in place to address the state of Fourth Street after a WCPO viewer reached out about road conditions in the downtown business district.
That viewer, identified as Michael, called downtown roads "a disaster," adding, "Drive across Fourth Street at the 25 mile-per-hour speed limit." A quick drive along Fourth Street showed us the reason for Michael's concern. The stretch runs through the heart of downtown, and drivers say the wear and tear is becoming harder to ignore.
In our new WCPO traffic series, "What's Driving You Crazy," we're taking concerns like Michael's and trying to find solutions. In this case, we met with Cincinnati's principal transportation design engineer, Chris Ertel. He said the city is aware of the issue.
“We’ve identified Fourth Street with bad PCI, which is a fancy way of saying poor pavement condition. So, we’re writing a contract right now with Eggleston as well and putting these projects out to bid,” Ertel said.
Watch KJ look into issues with Fourth Street below:
Ertel said multiple infrastructure projects have delayed resurfacing efforts.
“A lot of it is deterioration. We’ve also had a lot happen to get us to now. The water main had to be replaced, and recently the gas main had to be replaced. All that comes in and destroys the road. They had to patch. They’re not going to resurface it because that’s not what they’re there for,” Ertel said.
Now that underground work is complete, the city says it can move forward with resurfacing Fourth Street from Pike Street through the downtown business district to Central Avenue.
The project will involve grinding down about 1.5 inches of pavement and replacing it with a new, smoother surface.
If work begins as expected in late summer or early fall, officials say the project could take about three to four months to complete.
Reach out to KJ Jacobs at KJ.Jacobs@wcpo.com with any traffic-related concerns and let him know what's driving you crazy. KJ will work to find solutions for a safe and smooth ride on Tri-State roads.
