Vine Street functions as Cincinnati's central thorough-fare. It bisects the downtown and Over-the-Rhine neighborhoods. The street also serves as the dividing line for the "east" and "west" sides of the city. All east-west addresses in the city start at zero at Vine Street.
It heads mostly north-northeast from the riverfront area through the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, ascending between Fairview and Mount Auburn until it courses the uptown plateau past the University of Cincinnati. As the eastern perimeter of the campus and the Environmental Protection Agency's regional offices, Vine is called Jefferson Avenue, though it directly connects with Vine Street on its north and south ends. An adjunct, known as Short Vine, essentially parallels Jefferson Avenue and functions as a central artery of the neighborhood of Corryville, an off-campus business district with a number of shops, music venues, and restaurants.[1]
Vine Street and Jefferson Avenue were both realigned in the 1970s to provide a bypass around the Corryville Neighborhood Business District. Previously, Vine St and Short Vine formed a five-leg intersection with Auburn Avenue and East and West Corry Streets. The south legs of Vine and Auburn were removed to make room for a commercial shopping center. However, Vine St and Short Vine still divide the east and west sides of Cincinnati. The Jefferson Avenue "bypass" is still on the west side of the city. The north end of Short Vine connects to Vine Street at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive intersection.
Post-Jefferson Vine Street descends past the Cincinnati Zoo and the Vine Street Hill Cemetery. Near the bottom of Vine Street Hill, the street leaves the City of Cincinnati and takes a northwestern heading through the independent entities of Saint Bernard, home of Ivorydale (Manufacturing heart of Procter & Gamble) and Elmwood Place. In Saint Bernard, it passes beneath the Mill Creek Expressway, as this segment of Interstate 75 is known. After a railroad crossing near Ivorydale, it meets Spring Grove Avenue.
After serving as the municipality of Elmwood Place's central boulevard, Vine takes a northerly heading through the Cincinnati neighborhood of Carthage, where it is joined by Ohio State Route 4 from Paddock Rd. Vine is crossed over by the Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway. Passing on through the Cincinnati neighborhood of Hartwell it becomes Springfield Pike and assumes other local identities as it moves north of Cincinnati as State Route 4 and State Route 747.
Most of the buildings on Vine Street are commercial, and represent the city's historic business district. The street is well maintained, however many of the buildings are in deteriorating form. Vine street is also known for its large amount of pedestrian traffic, particularly around Fountain Square.[2]