CINCINNATI'S NORTH and WEST
Nov. 2 Nov. 10 2008
A couple of events here! The first 2 items are outside a Barack Obama rally at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium. The other 23 are from a decent Roads Scholaring on the west side - which started out as another Ice Bowl but warmed up rather nicely. (These events had nothing to do with each other, but I didn't know what else to do about them.)
When I got to the bottom of abandoned Delhi, I took the quickest way home, so there were no other roadly developments that day.
North of the university, this is east on Martin Luther King Drive approaching Burnet Woods Drive. This stretch of Martin Luther King Drive was renamed from St. Clair Avenue in the late 1980s. No photo can do justice to the size of the crowd: The Obama rally drew about 30,000 people into the stadium. (He was certainly more popular than UC's sports program.)
Looking west on Martin Luther King Drive. We had to park blocks away because the rally drew such a spectacular crowd.
During my Roads Scholaring 8 days later, I got this as my standard Kentucky photo. Riverboat Row is a road that parallels the Ohio River in Newport. Here it goes under I-471. These are the columns that support the I-471 bridge behind the earthen floodwall. The columns are painted with the admonition, "NO TRESPASSING." No trespassing where? The areas covered with rocks around the columns are obviously public property, because they are under a public highway and rest on a city-owned levee. How is it possible to trespass on public property? (This is also near where several people bubbled during the 2008 Riverfest fireworks.)
West on Mehring Way in Cincinnati at Smith Street. Mehring Way loses US 27/52 before arriving here. This is right before Mehring Way goes under I-75's Brent Spence Bridge, the double decker span you see here.
Despite all the attention I've given the secret bridge that runs over Mill Creek off the end of Mehring Way, this is the first video I've gotten of that crumbling structure!
Southwest on US 50 approaching Ingalls Street. US 50 here is River Road - and was once 6th Street here. Further west, River Road was once Liston Street.
This clip starts out inching northeast on US 50 towards the east end of Hillside Avenue. It picks up on Hillside, which I've seen marked on maps as the approved bike route. During this outing, Hillside was great for biking as it once was. In 2004, however, I had miserable luck with this road. (I think I was on Hillside when I got 3 flat tires in the same day.)
Continuing west on Hillside. West of Anderson Ferry Road, Hillside leaves Cincinnati and enters Delhi Township. (Still bikeable!)
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Looking back east at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and Darby Road.
Another bad case of sine rot! This sign is probably from the 1960s or 1970s, and this is continuing west on Hillside Avenue west of Bender Road, where Hillside reenters the 'Nati. Traffic on Hillside actually does pick up a little bit here.
Hillside Avenue reenters Delhi Township and runs north over Muddy Creek. Up ahead is the intersection with Cleves-Warsaw Road.
East on Muddy Creek from Hillside Avenue!
Whaddya know! It's Creek Mushy Muddy (as the ol' Osk might call it)! This is from under where Hillside Avenue goes over the creek.
Under the Hillside Avenue span over Muddy Creek!
Yet another view of that bridge (which is of unknown vintage).
From Cleves-Warsaw Road, this is looking back south on Hillside, where it goes over Muddy Creek.
East on Cleves-Warsaw from Hillside. This sign shows you what looms in the near future. (Looooom! Looooom!) This stretch of Cleves-Warsaw marks the boundary between Delhi and Green townships.
Up ahead is the bridge referenced in the previous photo. This too goes over Muddy Creek.
A video of the Peace Bike going east through the bridge! Motorized vehicles make the bridge's grated metal deck sing! The observation at the end of this clip concerns an empty field off the side of the road that has a video camera monitoring it. A video camera in an empty, remote, rural field? And they say America hasn't become a command state?
Looking west through the bridge! Only the Green Township side has a walkway.
After the bridge, I had to drag the Peace Bike up Cleves-Warsaw Road. That was horrible! The road becomes steep, narrow, and curvy, and it gets much more traffic than you'd expect. This photo is looking west again.
This type of terrain is common even on Cincinnati's west side. This is looking north on Neeb Road in Delhi Township towards Rapid Run Road. (And we're still 57 blocks from Vine Street! Aaarrrgh!)
West on Wulff Run Road from Neeb Road. The creek that likes to flood is Wulff Run Creek (which parallels this road). And I bet there was a lot of that in the months just prior to this photo!
This photo ushers in the highlight of this outing! To the average map reader, Delhi Road seems to end at a driveway to a nursing home just west of the College of Mount St. Joseph. But an abandoned portion of Delhi Road begins at the barrier and runs for quite a ways. That section is pictured here and was probably abandoned in the 1960s or so.
Dare me to bike the abandoned Delhi Road? I did just that! This has got to be the longest abandoned road I've ever discovered! It runs steeply downhill from near the College of Mount St. Joseph all the way down to Hillside Avenue! Peep the wall on the right-hand side of the road. Old Delhi emerges on Hillside just west of Darby Road.