CINCINNATI – The City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering will convert East McMillan Street and William Howard Taft Road from their current one-way traffic patterns to two ways between Victory Parkway and Woodburn Avenue beginning Monday, Aug. 8.

McMillan is currently eastbound only and Taft is westbound only in those segments.

The new configuration is an extension of a previous two-way conversion of McMillan and Taft in adjacent Walnut Hills.

Motorists will now be able to travel eastbound and westbound on Taft between May Street and Columbia Parkway and on McMillan between the ramp for Interstate 71 to the merger of McMillan and Taft close to Columbia Parkway.

The actual conversion will take place in phases over two days starting at 9:00 a.m. Monday and finishing late day Tuesday, Aug. 9.

Contractor crews will begin the process at the intersection of McMillan and Victory and move eastward to Bell Place across from the main campus of St. Ursula Academy. The crews will proceed to the intersection of McMillan and Woodburn, then head north on Woodburn, then westward along Taft toward Victory.

It’s expected to take about two hours to implement each segment as crews will be uncovering overhead traffic signals and adjusting their timing, swapping out directional signs and removing construction cones. Updated lane striping is already in place.

Through traffic has been prohibited in sections of both streets throughout the summer with temporary signage and hundreds of construction cones designating the work zone.

Construction associated with the conversion began in May. It has included new traffic islands, concrete curbs and driveway connections for businesses and residences along both streets. The contractor is Prus Construction.

The $3.2 million roadway project, which is funded by city capital and East Walnut Hills tax increment financing, is slated for completion in October. Planning for it began in 2017 with public input that included community surveys and meetings with businesses, residents and other stakeholders.

Please note: DOTE and the Metropolitan Sewer District are coordinating on a separate emergency sewer repair farther east on William Howard Taft Road near Columbia Parkway. Detour signage is posted to direct motorists around the Metropolitan Sewer District repair site and work zone for the roadway conversion project.