CINCINNATI - southwest
Oct. 22 2015
The Peace Bike and I tried once again to pedal all the way to Sayler Park, but - as in my 2014 attempt - I didn't have the energy. I even guzzled an entire mill-mill - to no avail.
By the way, that speed limit sign looks ridiculous using the Arial font.
Looking up Butler Street towards Pete Rose Way (chomp chomp chomp...whoosh) downtown. The approach to the Purple People Bridge rises up on the right. The blow-up shows the stop sign suffering from type C sine rot. The lavender columns are for a now-defunct approach to the Purple People Bridge that once went directly above Butler Street and then over Pete Rose Way.
Southwest on Pete Rose Way - US 52 here. Best all, that sign used the Sesame Street font!
Mehring Way (US 27/52) at Elm Street. The red parts of the Interstate shields also exhibit type C sine rot.
Mehring at Central Avenue. This is where Mehring loses US 27/52. On the right is the player entrance for the Bengals' practice field. I hope London has one of those when the Bengals have a "home" game there because they won't use their stadium in Cincinnati that the taxpayers built for them.
It's another exciting game of "spot the type C sine rot", as we continue on Mehring Way. We go under the celebrated Brent Spence Bridge (I-71/75) up ahead.
The red crowns of Interstate shields don't seem to stand a chance against sine rot lately, do they? This too is Mehring Way - which obviously isn't an Interstate anyway. The booger green sign on the telephone pole is an employment ad. I had my hopes up until I found out the job was in Boone County, Ky., and nobody has the energy to bike 30 miles every day just to work in a county with its own union-busting ordinance.
The viaduct that keeps on giving keeps on giving. Here you see the rebuilt Waldvogel Viaduct, with its striking new red columns. (Will sine rot get those too?) We're at the end of Neave Street, which intersects the sidewalk that replaces English Street (which was German Street before World War I). Neave continued straight ahead before the viaduct was reconstructed.
The sidewalk that replaces English Street. English Street itself no longer exists.
Looking up State Avenue (OH 264). The new viaduct ramps soar overhead, but looking straight ahead at left - to the left of the new staircase - you can see the ending of the stub for a now-demolished ramp that used to be overhead here.
West on US 50 (River Road) at Southside Avenue. The construction of a brand bippus-bustin' new building at left proves that the stub of an intersection that existed there for several years prior wasn't just a paper tiger.
US 50 with Pete Rose Park (chomp chomp chomp...whoosh) at right. (The park was once called Bold Face Park.) The blow-up is of the brown sign at the center of the photo. That sign is old - and that's why it's on this webpage! Make sense?
This may be the highlight of this outing! This is northwest on Sedam Street. It actually used to be a major road. That was before Fairbanks Avenue was extended to the west of here in the 1950s or 1960s. You know this used to be more of a through street, because you can see the remnants of a gas station sign at center.
Southeast on Sedam. The roadway is a dead end now, but back when it was a major road, it may have been one-way. If so, this was likely the proper direction of travel.
Going back east on US 50, we approach the rebuilt Waldvogel Viaduct again.
Whoever decided not to put a sidewalk here must have poo in their trousers. US 50 needs a sidewalk here. It had one before and needs one now. Or are we in another era of reactionary rollbacks like when the bridge at the Licking River was built with a sidewalk on only one side?
This is where the rebuilt viaduct carries US 50/OH 264 over Mill Creek. The stretch of 6th Street leading to the "secret bridge" used to be straight ahead at far left. Now it's essentially buried.
Type C sine rot isn't limited to just red. This aging US 50 sign has faded beyond all hope too. This is southeast on Gest Street at Freeman. Not sure why this would be Truck US 50, or why I-471 would be talked about way over here.
When it rains, it pours. This is east at 7th & Sycamore downtown. And we're gonna inflate 3 examples of old signage from this photo, so listen close...
Each of these 3 blow-ups has a 1950s-era sign blade. I may have featured some of these before. If so, tough toilets. The blow-up in the middle also has a very faded US 50 assembly. It's so faded that I don't even know what it says, other than US 50 and maybe an arrow pointing right. Plus, those internally lit ONE WAY signs weren't exactly born yesterday either. Also, the labor protest on the corner was a nice touch.