College Hill Residents Ask Hamilton Ave. Drivers to Slow Down, Call on CPD to Do More

BY MADELINE FENING

Residents of Northside and College Hill who are fed up with vehicles speeding down Hamilton Avenue gathered along the street on April 12 to ask drivers to slow down.

Mark Ventura organized the demonstration for the College Hill Grass Roots Traffic and Pedestrian Safety (TAPS) group, which holds monthly “action days” that promote pedestrian and cyclist safety. Ventura asked neighbors to meet outside Kiki College Hill and pick up one of the many signs that said “Slow Down!” or "Speed Limit: 25.” He said the speeding problem on Hamilton Avenue starts at Galbraith Road and doesn’t stop.

“We have people stretched from College Hill to Clifton; this goes all the way down Hamilton Avenue until this road turns into Ludlow. It’s not just a College Hill issue; it’s a Cincinnati issue,” Ventura said.

Samantha Steenz lives in College Hill and uses the crosswalks on Hamilton Avenue regularly. She turned out for Wednesday’s demonstration because she has issues with her vision, and she’s not confident cars are considering her when driving down Hamilton Avenue. per hour, depending on the stretch of blocks, but advocates find that most drivers are exceeding the limit.

Ventura attributes the issue to a lack of enforcement, saying Cincinnati Police aren’t doing enough to cite dangerous drivers.

“We want the citations to reflect the reality of what we’re seeing with our very own eyes. That’s our ask of CPD. We appreciate all the lip service. I know they’re stretched thin,” Ventura said. “We see that you’re stretched thin, but do something about it.”

Cincinnati Police conducted a series of “traffic blitz” operations in late 2022, issuing hundreds of speeding citations across multiple traffic corridors, including Hamilton Avenue.

Between Oct. 10 and Oct. 21, officers issued 290 speeding tickets, but data found on CincyInsights shows the number of traffic stops across the city still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Mae Terpenning lives near the busy restaurant district along Hamilton Avenue in College Hill. She said pedestrians need to carry an orange flag while using crosswalks to be seen by drivers.

"We're trying to get control of our streets," she said. "You see these orange buckets here? You pick up a flag and walk across the street, and that's how we have to get safety at our crosswalks."

The speed limit on Hamilton Avenue fluctuates between 25 and 35 miles

Matt Butler has collected independent speed data on Hamilton Avenue outside Cincinnati Children’s Hospital College Hill. While collecting data in March 2022, Butler, with the help of his team at the Devou Good Foundation, an active transportation advocacy group in Cincinnati, found most drivers were exceeding the 35-mile-perhour speed limit.

“About 75% of the drivers were going above 35 miles per hour,” Butler said. “Top speed was 98 miles per hour.”

In 2019, officers made 23,112 traffic stops; that number dropped by more than half in 2020 with only 11,324 stops. 2021 was almost the same with 11,274 stops, and 2022 saw a slight increase with 12,603.

While TAPS organizers wait for more traffic stops from CPD, they said the group of concerned Northsiders and College Hill residents will keep holding monthly action meetings to try and calm Cincinnati’s fastest drivers.

“This is a neighborhood, not a highway. I think that’s why people are showing up,” Ventura said.