I found myself along the Ohio River one warm evening, walking by myself towards Paul Brown Stadium and towards the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio. I wanted to capture the essence of the city and its traffic – which consists of more than the automobile. I wasn’t disappointed, as the Ohio River was busy with barges and pleasure boats alike. To my surprise, Great American Ballpark was all lit up but not for a game, but to test the lighting for the Paul McCartney concert the next evening that performed to rave reviews.
1 Photographed from the 2nd Street ramp in downtown Cincinnati, this view captures three bridges in a geographically constrained area: the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, the CSX Cincinnati Ohio River Bridge and the Brent Spence Bridge.
Clay Wade Bailey Bridge
I am not the biggest fan of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Built upon the supports of an earlier Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Bridge that was later converted to an automobile span, this bridge has been in operation since 1974. My main opposition to this bridge is its width. It is three lanes, and essentially one-lane in each direction except for rush hour, when one additional lane is dedicated towards downtown Cincinnati or away from it.
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But during the morning and evening rush, the bridge is not anywhere near capacity. As it is an underutilized bridge due to the presence of the Brent Spence Bridge that carries Interstate 71 and 75 just downstream, the middle lane is more often than not empty. But because of the variable lanes, which abruptly end or merge at each end of the bridge, and the lack of traffic, vehicle speeds routinely exceed 35 miles-per-hour, the posted speed limit.
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The Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, however, is a heavy bike route. The only decent crossings across the Ohio River is the pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge, the Central Bridge – which also suffers from similar problems to that of this span, and the Clay Wade Bailey.
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My suggestion is to restripe the bridge to contain one through lane in each direction, and add five-foot bike lanes in each direction. And please enlarge the sidewalk: it is a nice five- to six-feet where it was reconstructed for the 2nd Street ramp, but it narrows down to less than four-feet when you account for the jersey barrier and railing.
5 A handful of cars pass by at a high rate of speed while a CSX locomotive, carrying boxcars and auto racks, passes by in the background.
John A. Roebling Bridge
This is still one of my favorite bridges to photograph. And since it was just rehabilitated with new paint and lights, it looks better than ever. So I present, the John A. Roebling Bridge. The following were photographed over the period of one hour, from sunset to dusk, and showcase just some of the traffic on the Ohio River.
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Relevant pages:
a. Clay Wade Bailey Bridge:
http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/oh...-us-42-us-127/
b. Chesapeake and Ohio Cincinnati Ohio River Railroad Bridge:
http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/oh...innati-bridge/
c. Brent Spence Bridge:
http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/oh...interstate-75/
d. John A. Roebling Bridge:
http://bridgestunnels.com/bridges/oh...ension-bridge/
Blog entries:
e. Cincinnati, Ohio at sunset:
http://bridgestunnels.com/2011/08/08...hio-at-sunset/
Enjoy this beautiful view of the Ohio River!
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