CINCINNATI — Cincinnati City Council is considering a motion to alleviate traffic impacts on city neighborhoods as crews prepare to begin construction on the Brent Spence Companion Bridge this summer.
The $4.05 billion project is expected to take crews until approximately 2031 to complete. That figure includes work on a double-decker companion bridge, two approaches and a re-striping of the existing Brent Spence Bridge. The cost does not include work to fully rehab the existing bridge, which will come at a later date.
The motion directs city administration to work with the Department of Transportation and Engineering, Cincinnati police and others to identify and implement temporary measures to mitigate traffic delays.
WATCH: As city council considers bridge project traffic motion, transportation officials provide update on construction timeline
"This is us getting ahead of it," Councilman Jeff Cramerding said. "I anticipate during periods of congestion, when the construction is really creating bottlenecks, the traffic will be forced onto our more residential streets. And will we need police resources to direct that traffic and to keep traffic moving?"
The motion, which is now with the climate, city services and infrastructure committee, asks city officials to share plans regarding traffic patterns and identify what city resources will be needed to assist the Ohio Department of Transportation.
"What resources can we offer ODOT? When will those resources be required? To what extent will that impact the city's budget?" Cramerding said.
Cramerding said he anticipates the city may need to utilize police overtime to manage impacts on traffic.
"During periods of congestion, of when the construction is really creating bottlenecks, the traffic will be forced onto our more residential streets. And will we need police resources to direct that traffic and to keep traffic moving?" Cramerding said.
Councilman Mark Jeffreys said that residents are worried about commercial trucks being diverted onto local roads, and bridge construction implications are already becoming real as streets close and drivers take different routes because of prep work.
"We just want to be deliberate rather than just (letting) things happen," Jeffreys said. "I've heard from residents, particularly in neighborhoods like Camp Washington, that are worried about, especially, truck traffic getting diverted from there."
To combat this, Jeffreys said the city may communicate with GPS companies to ensure commercial drivers are not routed through residential areas during construction. He said other concerns include road conditions, speeding and truck horns waking people up in the middle of the night.
Both council members said there is a need to coordinate with other major local infrastructure projects underway, like the Western Hills Viaduct project, to understand where traffic will intersect and compound congestion.
ODOT is wrapping up preliminary work, which includes checking underground utilities, conducting borings and parts of the ongoing Linn Street Bridge reconstruction project.
"All this pre-work that's happening, everything that's happening, whether it is directly associated or indirectly associated with the companion bridge project, is really important," ODOT District 8 Spokesperson Kathleen Fuller said.
Fuller said the bi-state management team is working with contractors to hone in on an exact start date, but the public will start seeing major construction activity by the summer.
"There's a lot happening behind the scenes, things that people don't see," Fuller said. "A lot of coordination that the contractors have to do to get ready to start that, to really kind of boots on the ground, shovels in the ground work that you're going to see, or in the water, in this case."
On the Kentucky side, a half-mile stretch of Covington's Riverwalk will soon close until 2031 to allow crews to move materials into the area for construction. The closing date was slated for May 1, but a KYTC spokesperson said it may be pushed back.
For information on other long-term closures underway, you can look at the official Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project page here.
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