BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Todd Dukes used to drive down Interstate 71 every day from his Roselawn home to his job as a steward at the Westin Hotel, but word of construction on Fort Washington Way scared him.
"Now I'm getting on the bus," he said. "It's too congested. You already had a lot of cars coming in there, and now the construction is making it worse."
Mr. Dukes, 29, said he'll eventually drive to work again, but "it might not be until the construction is done."
He's one of thousands of commuters adjusting in different ways to the changes on the thoroughfare linking I-75 and I-71. Problems have been minimal so far, according to most commuters, but more changes will occur this weekend and make it even more difficult to get in and out of downtown.
Several entrance ramps to eastbound Fort Washington Way will be closed when Monday afternoon's commute home begins, making it more difficult to reach places east and northeast of the city's downtown. Approximately 150,000 vehicles travel Fort Washington Way each day.
The $146.9 million project is scheduled to be completed by August 2000. It will push the downtown exits east and west and open up the riverfront area.
"Eventually, it is going to get to the point where you won't be able to enter or exit off of Fort Washington Way," said Mike Schmidt, a traffic information manager for SmarTraveler. "This will make it very difficult. We're already getting a lot of calls from folks wondering what to do."
Even those who take the bus are being inconvenienced. Kelley Robinson, who works at Provident Bank, picks up the bus about 7:25 a.m. every morning and is dropped off downtown about 20 minutes later.
"It used to drop me off at the corner of Fourth and Vine," said Ms. Kelley, who is nearly seven months pregnant. "But now it lets me off at 7th and Vine. I used to just have to walk across the street, but now I have to walk four blocks. This morning the bus was a little late, so I had to really hike it down there."
Many downtown businesses are trying to help their workers adjust. Dawn Sizemore, 36, of Erlanger, said she works at Taft, Stettinius and Hollister law firm, and the firm sends out regular messages updating employees on the construction.
She has not had to alter her trip into downtown via I-75 north and the Pete Rose Way exit, but it is a little slower.
"Maybe only two or three minutes," she said. "Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon it was really bad because of accidents."
Frank Phillips, 35, who works at Great American Insurance Companies, said his commute from West Chester has grown because he now exits I-75 at Fifth Street instead of Main Street and runs into a backup.
"It's just made the last five minutes of my drive a hassle," he said. "When they shut down all of these ramps, there's not going to be any access to the city for the next two years. I don't know how these businesses feel about it, but they can't be happy. Especially the Fourth Street businesses."
David Admire, 33, of Greenhills, said some businesses are suffering. He's a sales representative for Heidelberg Distributing Co. and his accounts consist of downtown taverns. He said some are complaining about less traffic to their bars.
"Summer is generally slow enough for a lot of the places downtown," he said. "This makes it worse."
Jeff Wallace, contracts administrator with Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio Inc., the project consultant, said he and others are doing their best to inform the news media and public of the changes so drivers can plan alternative routes before a crisis.
"Most backups occur the first few days and die down after people get accustomed to it," he said. "There might be some of that Monday afternoon."
