KENTON and BOONE COUNTIES, KY
Apr. 2 2009
PART 1

I'd like to say I went Roads Scholaring on the Peace Bike. But half the roads on this outing were so narrow, steep, or congested that I had to walk the bike a good portion of the day. Despite this disappointment, this event still yielded some usable exhibits.






The obligatory Campbell County photo in this set. This is in Bellevue, going southwest on Poplar Street at Washington Avenue. The graffiti on the stop sign shows that Bellevue is no stranger to the "Stop Snitching" campaign.




Here we're on 12th Street/Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Covington, looking north on what's really an extension to US 25 (Pike Street) from the ramp from I-75. I-75 is the elevated freeway at left. That "TO NEWPORT" sign is probably from the 1960s or so (or whenever this interchange was built) and looks to be racked with sine rot. The sign was later replaced.




This is near the border between Covington and Park Hills. Old State Road used to run right here (east of where it ends now), but this stretch was abandoned around the mid-20th century. Now it's impassable and unrecognizable. For good measure, someone threw an entire tree across the path at the bottom of the hill. This is looking downhill on the former path of Old State Road towards US 25.




This is in Park Hills where Arlington Road meets Hamilton Road. This is an old streetcar shelter, although streetcar service ended in Northern Kentucky in 1950. Note that the name Arlington Road appears on the shelter right below the window. In the background, you see a dead-end stretch of Hamilton Road. This was not made a dead end until the 2000s.




Another streetcar shelter - this one at Hamilton Road and Amsterdam Road. I took cover in one of these shelters when I was run off by police from the Bush rally in Devou Park in 2000. (Bush isn't exactly known for taking opposition too well.)




This driveway running west off Amsterdam near Park Drive is where the streetcar right-of-way was. I'm assuming this is private property now - but it's visible from the public roadway, and it's historically significant, so it earns a spot here.




This shows the frustration that defined the day. Here we're looking south on Sleepy Hollow Road at Amsterdam Road along the Park Hills/Fort Wright border. And believe me, the road ahead is much steeper and narrower than it looks.




In Erlanger, going southwest on US 25 (Dixie Highway) at this irresistably photogenic rail overpass. Alice Street is on the left, going up the hill.




Despite the flatter terrain here, this is still indicative of the unfortunate, treacherous conditions of suburban Roads Scholaring. This is northwest on KY 236 (Donaldson Highway) in Boone County, just northwest of Turfway Road. This road was built in the 1940s as the main route to what is now Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Although the Interstates now carry more airport traffic, KY 236 surely gets more traffic than ever.




West on Airfield Road, entering a tunnel that goes under the easternmost north-south runway at the airport. The runway and tunnel were built around 1990, and for a while, the road was detoured south around the perimeter of the runway. The tunnel was apparently extended around 1998 so a taxiway could be extended over the road.




West through the tun! This is only the westbound side of the tunnel, as the road briefly becomes a 2-lane divided highway using separate tubes.




East again on Airfield Road, approaching KY 236.




Where KY 236 now curves to the right, it used to continue northwest in the path you see here. That was before the airport expanded, so the road was probably removed here in the 1970s or so.




This abandoned road runs southwest off the former path of KY 236. I had thought this is where an old USGS topo map depicted a trailer park, but actually I think this is just southeast of that.




Northwest again on the abandoned KY 236. A fire hydrant still stands.

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