Greater Cincinnati is at the crossroads of the country. Although it is considered the Midwest by some around the country, it’s kind of in between all the major regions. But that’s part of its beauty. It is in the heart of the country with easy access to major points all around. Within a five- to six-hour drive are some major cities including Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit.
It has five major highways and an airport with a Delta hub, and a river runs through it with eight bridges tying the area together. Besides the main transportation methods, the area also has buses and boats, limos and taxis, river ferries and horse-drawn carriages.
Two major highways run through the Queen City, meeting up downtown to cross the Ohio River together. Interstate 71 runs from Cleveland to Louisville. Interstate 75 runs from Detroit to Miami. It’s great to have such major interstates nearby when you’re traveling, but when you’re driving locally, it oftentimes means those roads are busy.
Every weekend, many holiday travelers pass through the Greater Cincinnati area either heading south for vacation or on their way back to Michigan and Ontario. For that reason, Friday-night rush hours are a nightmare and Sunday afternoons also can bring traffic jams at the I-75 bridge downtown. But that’s the price we must pay for having major interstates.
People who live on the west side of town often have to also deal with the sun—making for interesting traffic reports that mention “sun delays.” People who live on the west side of town (off Interstate 74) used to be the blue-collar workers who got to work downtown before the sun was up. They also generally got home before the sun set in the west. So sun was not a problem for them. But now that more of the workers are white collar, they end up with the sun in their eyes on the way to and from work during rush hour.
But overall the city is not hard to get around in. The two major highways are well connected with other highways and state routes that will quickly take you to wherever you need to go.
You can make it from one part of the metropolitan area to another in a little more than a half an hour—if traffic is moving. The eight bridges across the Ohio River tie all the interstates and areas together. So aside from rush hour and the vacationer traffic jams mentioned above, traffic generally moves pretty well. Except when it’s orange barrel season (construction season), which it is somewhere around Cincinnati at all times.
Regardless of the multitude of highways, governmental agencies are always looking to the future with talk of broadening our horizons in this area. For several years, there has been discussion of light-rail that would run from Kings Island north of the city to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport southwest of the city. But so far, it has been only talk.
The city does have train service a few times a week to Chicago and Washington, D.C.
There also is quite a lot of competition for airplane dollars. Because Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is a Delta hub, there is little airline competition, which makes flights out of that airport expensive. Many of us have discovered that you can find cheaper fares with just a short drive to Louisville, Kentucky; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; or Indianapolis. In recent years, airlines that offer cheaper rates have moved in and out of the airport as well.