Fort Washington Way reconstruction photos from 1998

[jmecklenborg]

These are all from 1998, soon after work began on the Fort Washington Way reconstruction.



The old Dixie Terminal ramps:








View looking west from the since-demolished Lytle Place bridge, which was replaced with a tunnel:










Original Third St. Viaduct from the old Lytle Place bridge:




Bonus:

[ColDayMan]

Good ole' Star Bank!

[UncleRando]

I really like the way that bonus shot turned out with the police officers.  Very cool.

[Cincinnatus]

I really like the way that bonus shot turned out with the police officers.  Very cool.

Yeah, I thought the same thing ...

Cincinnati's finest.

[thomasbw]

339 million well spent

[Sherman Cahal]

"Original Third St. Viaduct from the old Lytle Place bridge"

I can't picture where this was at.

[Jimmy_James]

339 million well spent

Yeah, it's amazing how different the whole riverfront area is now than it was ten years ago.  I do miss Caddy's and The Old Spaghetti Factory, though.

[bmod]

the 2nd pic looks alot older than it is... maybe its the provident bank font plus the star bank. ha

[UncleRando]

the 2nd pic looks alot older than it is... maybe its the provident bank font plus the star bank. ha

Or the unnecessary grayscale used by jmecklenborg. 

[gotribe]

Cool Photo's!  What was the reconstruction done for?  Was it for structural purposes or to better tie the rest of downtown in with the riverfront?  If so, was it worth it in the long run? 

[UncleRando]

Old Fort Washington Way (prior to reconstruction):
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/fww.html

New Fort Washington Way:
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/fww-2000.html

The reconstruction has been tremendous.  It has reclaimed land and made the building of the two new stadiums (in those locations possible).  The most important thing is that the reconstruction has made The Banks development possible, and eliminated that barrier between Downtown/CBD and the riverfront.  Worth every penny.

[rider]

Great photos.  ODOT's proposed reconstruction of the downtown Columbus I-70/71 split would be very similar to the Fort Washington Way reconstruction.  Always wondered what that construction phase looked like.

[Sherman Cahal]

^ Which is why I am in support of ODOT's rebuilding of the Innerbelt.

[Jimmy_James]

Old Fort Washington Way (prior to reconstruction):
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/fww.html

New Fort Washington Way:
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/fww-2000.html

The reconstruction has been tremendous.  It has reclaimed land and made the building of the two new stadiums (in those locations possible).  The most important thing is that the reconstruction has made The Banks development possible, and eliminated that barrier between Downtown/CBD and the riverfront.  Worth every penny.

I've always wished that the City of Cincinnati had treated the FWW reconstruction, both Stadiums, The Banks, and the Cincinnati Riverfront Park as separate phases of one massive project.  People got so down on The Banks and always accuse Cincinnati of never accomplishing anything, but the FWW reconstruction was both essential and well executed.  Without that, none of our current projects would be happening (or if they were, they'd be severely diminished versions).  Also, the improvement in traffic flow through that area has been amazing.

[UncleRando]

^Couldn't agree more...in that 10+ years of "nothing getting done" PBS was built, GABP built, Freedom Center built, FWW reconstructed with new riverfront transit center, and some new streets were built.  A lot has been done, and the final pieces of the overall riverfront puzzle are finally coming together.

[jmecklenborg]

It can be argued that without the construction of I-471 the reconstruction of FWW would have never been necessary.  I-471's genius was entirely political -- there was no need whatsoever for high speed travel between Alexandria, KY and its 5,000 residents to downtown Cincinnati.  But it attracted a lot of traffic from Anderson Twp and exacerbated the weaving action happening on FWW which was previously limited to Columbia Parkway and 6th St. Expressway traffic.  A lot of times it takes just 100 more cars per hour to jam up a merge and this introduced way more than that.   

Imagine instead of today's full-throttle I-471 a 4 lane parkway with some grade separation like Columbia Parkway traveling down the hill from where St. Luke Hospital is and a 4-lane bridge touching down in Cincinnati at maybe Eggleston & 5th St.  Cheaper in the short term, cheaper in the long-run, less damage to the Newport Mansion Hill, no Mt. Adams retaining wall, no landslide and emergency demolition of the west side of Mt. Adams.           

[so it goes]

Memo: All old construction photos must be shown in black and white to ensure a nostalgic viewing, no matter the age of said photos