University Heights
Rebuilding Cincinnati’s once proud city-wide streetcar network
Cincinnati’s great collection of neighborhoods were built off of streetcar lines.
Cincinnati boasted some 222 miles of streetcar tracks that reached all parts of the city. The area became famous for not only its inclines, that allowed streetcars to move passengers up and down the city’s steep hillsides, but also its streetcar vehicles like the Cincinnati PCC, open-air viewing cars, or double-decker streetcars.
The massive network, at its peak, moved approximately 100 million passengers a year and allowed for many of the city’s neighborhoods to grow and prosper. This network, however, was completely ripped out and dismantled by 1951 when lines servicing Clifton and Westwood were shuttered.
Current plans for Cincinnati’s modern streetcar system include lines that would connect Downtown, Over-the-Rhine, Mt. Auburn, Clifton Heights, Avondale, Corryville and potentially University Heights and Fairview. Subsequent extensions could quickly expand the network to Newport, Covington, Queensgate, Walnut Hills, Clifton, Camp Washington, Northside and the West End.
While those plans for future extensions have yet to be completed, construction is moving full steam ahead on phase one and preliminary work on phase two has already begun. Take a look at what those phase one and two lines would look like overlaid on the city’s historical streetcar network. We have lots of work to do!
