CAMPBELL COUNTY, KY
May 1 2008
PART 1
This may have been the most strenuous Roads Scholaring I've ever done on a bike. The Peace Bike and I toured an important Northern Kentucky county, challenged the system, and encountered some of the worst roads we've ever dealt with. After all that trouble, it's imperative to peep and weep this set of road photos...
Memorial Parkway - which is part of KY 1120 - was built in the 1950s along an old streetcar line.
Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Willis?! This is southeast on Arnold Alley in Newport. Not a bad way to bike from Bellevue to southeastern Newport, if you ask moi.
East on Memorial Parkway, leaving Bellevue and reentering Newport. This scene is endangered because Memorial Parkway has been eaten by development. This road was horrible for biking because of the traffic volume and lack of amenities. Note the modern Kentucky practice of putting grooves on the shoulder to keep bikes off. A bike lane that was promised for Memorial Parkway by the end of 2007 failed to materialize. But there was hope: A sidewalk was under construction on the north side of the road.
An even more endangered scene. This is Cincinnati as seen from Memorial Parkway. You can tell this view is threatened because that field has been cleared for development. (I've finally figured out how Cincinnati can be visible from the south side of the road: The road curves so we're looking west.)
If you go to the end of Riverside Parkway in Fort Thomas, you'll be treated to this view. You can see over the Ohio River to Cincinnati's Lunken Airport and the Little Miami River valley behind that.
The white-on-purple sign for the intersection of Cochran Avenue & Alexander Circle behind Tower Park in Fort Thomas has got to be ancient, with the block font and all. This is the area with the old, empty houses and the ominous warnings to stay on the roadway or sidewalk because it's federal government property.
In that same area, there's this forgotten road (ignored by many maps) that I think is part of Clitz Street.
Southeast on River Road (KY 445) in Fort Thomas. This reportedly became a state route in the 1940s.
River Road approaching Fort Thomas Avenue in Fort Thomas. This too is endangered: The city wants to reconstruct River Road so it meets Fort Thomas Avenue at a perpendicular angle - even though it looks like it already does. Your tax dollars at work, folks.
I got swats here! Over in Highland Heights, this is Highland Heights Elementary School, which had closed in 2007 (thanks to the Campbell County Schools' ongoing war against the community). When I took this photo, the building actually featured the school's earlier moniker of Dale District School.
South on Nunn Drive from University Drive. That walkway over the road that's part of Northern Kentucky University is almost spang-new!
This road looks like that guy who got expelled from NKU back in 1995. Wait, it is! I challenge an Allowed Cloud that had threatened for 13 years to arrest me for "trespassing" if I returned to campus. Well, the expulsion was illegal, and it's impossible to "trespass" on public property, so here I is. Hilariously, a police car is seen in the background, so I was fighting the system right under their noses! This photo is looking northeast on Kenton Drive, incidentally. Kenton is one of several roadways on campus named for counties in Northern Kentucky.
This was part of Johns Hill Road until the mid-1970s. This is just southeast of where Johns Hill Road goes over I-275, and we're looking northwest. Johns Hill Road was relocated because of the Interstate's construction.
That old part of Johns Hill Road trails off into this path.
This was definitely part of Johns Hill Road up to the mid-1970s. This is looking southeast on a stretch northwest of I-275.
Southeast on Johns Hill over I-275. Notice the curvature of this bridge. Formerly part of KY 1998, Johns Hill Road became KY 2345 in 1999.
Looking southwest from the old stretch of Johns Hill Road southeast of I-275. Off in the distance you see a mystery freeway. What is it??? I'm guessing I-275 around Taylor Mill, but we'd have to be viewing it from a straaaaange angle!
From mystery freeway to mystery gravel road. Just east of where Meadow Trail Drive is now, some maps have long shown an unnamed road running southwest off Johns Hill. This is the first time I've been able to find it. I try to imagine it before the apartments at right were built. Not too far down, this road is blocked by an ominous gate. Apparently it goes much further down to some sort of antenna overlooking KY 9.
Weavers Lane in Cold Spring is one of few roads in the county that's this flat for this long, so I opted to peep it.
Southeast on East Alexandria Pike just past Dodsworth Lane. Hard to believe this used to be US 27 until 1941.
