Curious about the Two-Way Street Conversion Project in East Walnut Hills?
Construction of this transformative project is set to begin soon. To find out more and to weigh in on the final piece of funding needed for this project, you are invited to attend the City’s Community Engagement virtual meeting on Mon 25 Apr 2022 at 4pm.
As a result of nearly five years of East Walnut Hills community’s collaborative engagement with the City, the City is beginning construction of the EWH Two-Way Street Conversion Project. The project design is the same as the final design approved by the East Walnut Hills Assembly’s Stakeholder Committee in 2020. When completed, this project will transform the block of William Howard Taft Rd., Woodburn Ave. and McMillan (see map).
The streets will be converted from one-way to two-way to improve pedestrian safety, calm vehicular traffic and knit the EWH business district back together. A new streetscape (new paver sidewalks and lights) will be installed along south Woodburn Ave., continuing the design that’s already in place on the rest of Woodburn in the business district. On the north side of William Howard Taft, a new sidewalk and trees will be installed.
The meeting on Mon 25 Apr at 4pm will focus on funding a gap in the financing for the project. Two million dollars of EWH Tax Increment Financing Dollars (TIF) funding was allocated to this project in the fall of 2020.
As anticipated by staff and committee members, project costs increased due in large part to the current economic conditions impacting construction. When the project bids recently came in, there was a $150,000 funding gap that now needs to be filled. The East Walnut Hills Assembly Board and the City of Cincinnati have agreed that the most efficient way to fill the $150,000 gap is to allocate further EWH TIF funds.
The EWHA and the City are asking the EWH community to weigh in on this proposed EWH TIF allocation. The first step in this process is the Community Engagement Meeting on Mon 25 Apr at 4pm. The purpose of this meeting is to present information about the proposed project, and to collect public input and feedback on the proposal.
The meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. Please send a request to the following email address for the meeting link to join, and it will be sent directly to you: maria.dienger@cincinnati-oh.gov