CINCINNATI - Mill Creek area
Mar. 29 2013
The lower Mill Creek valley is entering a new epoch with the dismantling of the Waldvogel Viaduct. So let's get right to the fun...
We had to battle through the Belv first! This is southwest on Fairfield Avenue (KY 8) in Bellevue. Notice that mural on the floral shop at right. Every time I see that painting, I think it's a person in an Occupy mask.
East on Mehring Way downtown. The street goes under the Coliseum decking. At left is Broadway, now dually signed as Johnny Bench Way, after everybody's favorite Bubble Fudge spokesman. Southbound US 27 officially hops onto Broadway here, although Broadway goes north. However, US 27 is not signed there. US 27 goes on to use the Taylor-Southgate Bridge, in the background. This is also the part of Broadway that splits down the middle for the roadway to the river - hence the space with the guardrail at left.
North on (ppphh!) Gas Alley, off Mehring Way. It used to be the far southern end of Cutter Street. The brick-paved alley is starting to rival Charlotte Street for having the most dilapidated pavement in the city. Gas Alley is endangered, depending on where the Brent Spence Bridge replacement is built. The new bridge could also menace Longworth Hall, the building up ahead.
The Mill Creek valley can always be counted on to fill this website, and this is looking south from Gest Street along a seldom-used rail line in Lower Price Hill. (I can't think of the last time I saw a train here.) You can see this track going under the 8th Street Viaduct up ahead.
A video going south on Evans Street from Gest Street to River Road (US 50/OH 264) where the Waldvogel Viaduct emerged. We go under the 8th Street Viaduct at about :55. At the end of the clip, we find that the soaring, squid-like ramps of the Waldvogel that brang us so much joy no longer exist! The area looked downright naked without those old ramps. Also, the secret 6th Street bridge under the viaduct was now inaccessible, but it's unclear whether this was permanent.
This is brand new scenery. Here we're looking west on US 50 from Evans. The viaduct that used to be overhead in this path is gone.
This arrangement could be permanent, but parts of it seem to contradict diagrams I've seen. There's a new ramp to Elberon Avenue at left. I'm not sure where the closed ramp next to it will go when it opens, but I'd say Warsaw Avenue. US 50 is signed as "CONTINUOUS." Notice that the ramp that's under construction goes over US 50.
East on Gest Street, not long after crossing Mill Creek. This is at the easternmost cluster of rail bridges between Mill Creek and Dalton. The bridges are closely grouped here, so it's almost like a tunnel.
West on 7th downtown (which is one-way east). Baldwin Alley emerges from between the buildings at right. The spot where the alley comes out is where the Occupy-related sidewalk chalk citations of July 2012 occurred.