This site is an academic design project to develop an architectural master plan for a regional rapid transit system for the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky metropolitan area. Although periodic efforts have been made to introduce rail transit to the region, including the partial construction of a subway line in the 1920′s and the current efforts to re-introduce streetcar service to the downtown core, Greater Cincinnati remains one of the largest US urban areas without any form of rail-based public transit. This project is loosely based upon the 2002 Metro Moves light rail initiative developed by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority and the 2030 Regional Transportation Plan unanimously adopted in 2008 by the OKI Regional Council of Governments.
The primary focus of this project concerns the physical design of a hypothetical transit system, with a particular emphasis on the following three aspects:
Routes, Transit Modes, and Station Locations
The 2002 Metro Moves plan envisioned a three-tier system comprised of streetcars, light rail, and commuter rail. Several of the proposed light rail corridors incorporate abandoned railroad rights-of-way and run on surface streets in the central business district. While this provided a cost-effective way to introduce rail transit to Cincinnati, it had a number of shortcomings that limited the system’s future capacity and public appeal. Using the OKI plan as a starting point, this project proposes a modified regional plan that better serves the long-term transit needs of the public.
Station Typologies
This project identifies typical transit station typologies (subway, elevated, surface, etc.) and establishes architectural design parameters to create a framework by which the design of these facilities can be further developed in the future.
Downtown Transit Hub
Finally, this project proposes a schematic design for the primary downtown transit hub, located at the site of the existing below-grade Fountain Square parking garage, which will provide the primary transfer point between most of the proposed transit lines.
Issues regarding capital and operational funding, public transit policy, ridership projections, civil and structural engineering, and political feasibility are not included within the scope of the design project. However, these issues may be touched upon in the background research and in the author’s commentary.
This site will be updated with new elements of the transit plan throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, and a blog has been created to inform visitors of new updates and developments. While this site is strictly a hypothetical design project, the blog will also be updated with news and commentary concerning current transit-related developments in Cincinnati and elsewhere. More broadly, it is hoped that this site will become a venue for an ongoing dialogue and exchange of ideas about how to re-shape public transit in Cincinnati for the 21st Century and beyond.
Your comments, questions, and feedback are always appreciated.
Note that this project and this website are in no way affiliated with any transit agency or provider, nor with any other governmental, commercial, or educational entity. The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the author.
All original text and images on this site are under copyright protection, and may not be reproduced without the author’s express written consent. Text and images from outside sources remain the intellectual property of their respective authors.
About the Author
David Cole is Bachelor of Arts degree candidate at DePaul University’s School for New Learning, a program geared towards non-traditional adult students with a heavy emphasis on self-directed learning centered around an individualized focus area. David’s focus area is Architecture. One of the requirements for graduation is an Advanced Project that demonstrates competence in this focus area, and David developed this site to serve as a venue in which to present this Advanced Project to his academic committee and to the broader public.
David began his formal studies in architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995, and has worked in a variety of architecture firms in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York in the meantime. He is currently an unregistered project architect at a 70-person architecture firm in New York City with a strong portfolio of transit and infrastructure projects in the New York region. He will graduate with his BA degree in the spring of 2010 and plans to ultimately enroll in a professional Masters of Architecture degree program in preparation for professional registration as an architect.
David has strong personal roots in the Greater Cincinnati area, having been born in Mariemont and spending most of his childhood living across the river in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. David maintains a keen interest in Cincinnati’s history and current issues, and returns to the area as often as possible to visit friends and family.
In addition to architecture, David has a strong interest in rail transit, particularly electric passenger trains such as subways, light rail, and high-speed rail systems. He has been an outspoken advocate for improved urban mass transit and high-speed intercity rail in the United States, and has explored the transit systems of many American cities. As a former volunteer at the Illinois Railway Museum outside of Chicago, David has helped restore and operate vintage streetcars, interurbans, Chicago ‘L’ trains, and a New York City subway train.
David’s personal portfolio site is DSCole.net.
