Cincinnati — Streetcar to Northern Kentucky?

January 2016

Despite all of the obstacles that Cincinnati's modern streetcar faced to get built, the idea of extending streetcar service across the bridge into Northern Kentucky is under discussion according to a report on the Cincinnati.com site.

Planners recently unveiled a proposal in which the streetcar would cross the Taylor-Southgate Bridge into Newport and then go through the Ovation development site across the Fourth Street Bridge into Covington.

A group made up of residents, business leaders and elected officials calling themselves the Northern Kentucky Streetcar Committee prepared the design and will apply for $300,000 from the federal government to study its feasibility, according to Ian Budd, a Newport resident and head of the committee.

Former Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who played a major role in the successful launch of construction for the Cincinnati streetcar, spoke in favor of the proposal.

"It will probably be 20 years before a streetcar crosses into Northern Kentucky," said Covington Mayor Sherry Carran. "But it needs to be talked about," she said.

"People have been anticipating this for a long time," Qualls said. "It's a local decision and it's going to require tremendous local support from the constituencies and courage on the part of elected officials to put up with a lot of pushback."