BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For many frustrated commuters who spend mornings in a sea of brake lights on Sixth Street, there is another way.
As you drive on Interstate 471 northbound, get in the far right lane, and take Columbia Parkway eastbound. It's still open -- honest. Take Columbia Parkway, past the curvy entrance into Mount Adams, until you come to a short connector road called Bains Street.
Take a right on Bains and then a quick right on Eastern Avenue, which will take you to Pete Rose Way and loads of intersections with city streets that feed into downtown.
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FWW AT GOCINCINNATI
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Connie Shively of Highland Heights has never tried that route. But when traffic looks especially bad, she sometimes exits at Liberty Street instead of Sixth to avoid the hassle, she said.
"That Sixth Street exit, that's a horrible nightmare right there," Mrs. Shively said, adding that her drive downtown from home now takes about 25 minutes. It used to take 10 or 15.
Because the crush of inbound traffic on Sixth Street hasn't eased over the past two weeks, Fort Washington Way planners are pushing the Bains to Eastern alternative to try to ease congestion and waiting in traffic, said Don Gindling, the city's Fort Washington Way construction manager.
The Sixth Street rush-hour crush started after Fort Washington Way's westbound ramps closed July 31.
East-side commuters who don't use I-471 have limited options. But Mr. Gindling stressed the Eastern Avenue alternative could be a good one.
Cincinnati's $146.9 million Fort Washington Way project is designed to narrow the highway, which stretches from the Brent Spence Bridge through the Lytle Tunnel, and make it safer. It's scheduled to be completed in August 2000.
