NEWPORT/COVINGTON, KY
Jan. 7 2008
Wow, a day in January in Northern Kentucky that's warm and dry enough for Roads Scholaring! Now I've seen everything!
I think I've had photos of this immediate area before, but not exactly. Of course you see Cincinnati in the background, but this is Columbia Street in Newport, approaching 5th. Notice the pavement ain't in the best shape.
Looking northeast on James Alley from Columbia. It's an alley, and it's brick - so I knew I had to get a photo of this historic item before it disappeared down the memory hole.
Southeast on Lowell Street in Newport from the 11th Street bridge. Peep the rail line running down the street. I doubt this rail line is still in use, as it appeared to be beyond repair. The intersection ahead is with KY 9, where 12th Street becomes Licking Pike.
Now we're on KY 16 in the Latonia section of Covington, looking up at the rail overpass that goes over KY 16 where James Avenue becomes 30th Street. What I thought was an opaque fence featuring graffiti written in big, bubbly letters was actually a train.
Smoking...in...public! This clever anti-smoking mural graces the wall along KY 16 under the overpass.
From 33rd Street, looking south on that same rail line.
Loads of rail traffic comes together here in Latonia. This is looking east from Lincoln Avenue. In addition to the tracks in the foreground, another track runs horizontally in the background.
The main purpose of this outing was to find the most obscure river bridge in the area: this rusty rail span that crosses the Licking River between Latonia and Wilder. I had never even thought about this bridge until one day when I realized it was staring me in the face on many a map. This shot from the north end of Glenn Avenue was the best I could get.
Looking east on 40th Street under a rail overpass. This photo belies the street's steepness. Note that the vertical clearance of the roadway is only 11' 8".
Looking west under that overpass.
North on Huntington Avenue from 45th. Google Earth showed what appeared to be a footbridge over the rail line at right, but it must have just been removed not too long before this photo. Fragments of the bridge rested in ruins.
The best photo in the entire set! If you go far enough on 47th, it trails off into this road under the rail line. There was a meaningless, useless stop sign, and the street becomes a driveway for a VFW post.
This is about at the line between Covington and Taylor Mill. From Church Street, this is looking at the KY 16 bridge over Banklick Creek, which bears a date of 1983.
Look at that cool and broccoli water! This is looking upstream on Banklick Creek from the KY 16 span. The stone pier at right may be for the predecessor of the current bridge, but I'm not sure.
The west end of Grand Avenue in Covington. From here, there's some type of trail that runs quite a ways towards the southwest through a remote area, but there's a little Allowed Cloud called private property that put the kibosh on any efforts to check it out.
Going north on Decoursey Avenue (which carries KY 16 here) approaching 35th, this is a rail crossing that caused much constipation for me in high school when it kept making me late for class. (I know my own school district never would have allowed this to happen to the students it didn't require to be schlepped across district lines. Oh well. Just another example of their unfairness.)
Still in Covington, looking south on Eastern Avenue at Adams Avenue. The Licking River looms behind the trees at left. This block of Eastern was closed because workers were laying pipes across the road. That's just how the doo-doo plops, I guess.
Covington's Glenway Avenue has this gap in the 1800 block. We're looking north where the gap begins, straight ahead on Glenway. The gap features this field dotted with signs warning of sewage overflow.
Behold this friendly cat! This lovable feline guided me about the east end of 16th in Covington. This furry critter strongly resembled a cat who peopled my block in Bellevue months earlier.
East on 16th near the street's end. The street makes this opening in the Licking River levee.
Standing on the aforementioned levee, looking northwest towards the rail bridge near 15th. See Cincinnati, with the skyline of Covington with its new, futuristic skyscraper to its left.
Still standing on the floodwall, looking southeast. I'll be bubblegummed if I know what the buildings on the hill in the distance are, but I think they're newer residences in Wilder.
Looking right across the river from the levee. You see a (funny word alert) viaduct that carries KY 9 over a rail line near the Newport/Wilder border.
On the floodwall still! This is looking down at Oakland Avenue, which hits a dead end just to the right of this photo.
Finally, this photo is of an old, completely rusted car resting behind the levee. It's utterly ru! The Licking River is visible just behind the trees.