BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Fort Washington Way planners have put off some of the additional pain that's sure to come with the massive highway project.
Officials decided Wednesday that the westbound Fort Washington Way ramps onto Vine Street and Elm Street and the ramp from Sycamore Street onto the highway will not be closed until the beginning of next month, after the Coors Light Festival at Cinergy Field July 24-26.
"We thought we've got an opportunity here to get the same amount of work done in the same amount of time and create less disruption for the Coors Light Festival," said John Deatrick, an engineer with the city of Cincinnati and the highway project manager.
Festival organizers and patrons were ready for the highway project, Mr. Deatrick said, adding that festival organizers mailed Fort Washington Way maps to all ticket holders.
But planners realized they could do some work in a different order and avoid the hassle, he said.
Some lanes on westbound Fort Washington Way already have been restricted for the project. Traffic west of Race Street was slowed during rush hour Wednesday, trying to squeeze into fewer lanes.
Ramps into downtown from eastbound Fort Washington Way closed earlier this month as planners prepare to squeeze all the highway's traffic into half its width during the highway reconstruction.
Once westbound ramps begin to close Aug. 1, the complete traffic "switch-over" -- where all the traffic will move through half the space -- should be complete by Aug. 3, said Kellie Landers, a spokeswoman for the project.
The $146.9 million road project is designed to narrow the highway by removing the tangle of ramps in its middle to either end of the east-west connector. It is scheduled to be complete in August 2000 to coincide with the opening of the new Bengals stadium.
Lanes have been narrowed to a width of 9 feet during construction, and vehicles wider than 7 feet are prohibited from using the roadway. But Cincinnati police still are catching lots of wide vehicles ignoring the ban, said Lt. Robert Hungler of the police division's traffic unit.
Police issued 26 citations Wednesday morning and have written a total of 218 tickets since Monday, when the lanes were narrowed, he said.
The number of drivers defying the ban has stayed steady, Lt. Hungler said, but police are having a harder time enforcing it since concrete barriers began replacing orange barrels Tuesday.
