opinion

Editorial: Money for Rt. 32 should go here instead

Finally. The state Department of Transportation pulled the plug Thursday on its plan to reroute Ohio 32 – after wasting years and millions of dollars on a project that people said they didn't want.

The new 32 was the least popular piece of the $1 billion Eastern Corridor project, meant to move commuters more easily between Downtown and eastern Hamilton and Clermont counties. As we said two years ago, lighter rush-hour traffic just isn't worth the cost of possibly doing damage to historic and business elements of Mariemont and Newtown, including Native American burial grounds.

ODOT came to the correct decision, but it's hard to celebrate that given a process that motored along in defiance of public sentiment for so long. Another Eastern Corridor decision now looms, and we hope state transportation officials will be more receptive to public feedback on the Oasis line.

The 17-mile rail line would run on existing tracks from Downtown to Milford, with stops in between. In a region that has been so resistant to rail, we're concerned about the cost-benefit analysis on a $230 million-plus project that might draw fewer than 3,000 riders a day. We're open to hearing more from the experts and residents on this one.

However, as we survey the landscape of transportation spending needs in our region, two rise head and shoulders above the rest: the Brent Spence Bridge, of course, and the Western Hills Viaduct, a critical connector that's literally crumbling.

Before we – "we" being the state, using our taxpayer money – build anything else new, whether a commuter rail line or a road, we need to take care of these overburdened bridges. The Brent Spence, at $2.5 billion, is in a category by itself, but the viaduct, estimated at around $250 million, is a manageable project for ODOT. Some 55,000 cars a day rely on this 83-year-old span to travel between the West Side and jobs Downtown and Uptown, and it's time that we get serious about rebuilding it.

That's where our money should go first, not more grandiose plans for the East Side. ODOT, don't you think it's time you start listening?