The Government Square project was commissioned to address concerns about pedestrian and vehicular conflicts along the Fifth Street frontage, insufficient passenger waiting area, traffic congestion around the facility and poor accessibility for persons with disabilities.

The scope of the project encompassed assessing the condition and operating effectiveness of the Government Square Transit Center and “Transit Zone,” developing recommendations for improvements both in terms of design elements and operations. MSA’s role as Architectural Consultant, with the international engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, is to develop a plan to expand Government Square to include Main and Walnut Streets, providing flexibility for bus routing. The design creates a new transit center addressing all of the above concerns and a new handsomely designed landscaped public square in the heart of Downtown Cincinnati.