The week of July 13 I’m in Troy, Ohio, which is right up I-75 from Cincinnati. As it happens that is the week of the All-Star Game in Cincinnati, and I’d love to get into town. Maybe I can score a ticket or maybe I’ll just soak up the atmosphere, I dunno.
Anyway, I’ve driven into Cincy from Troy before and it’s horrible. What other methods of getting there might one recommend?
There really is no more direct route than to take I-75. Going through Dayton is a pain, and may be worth doing east on I-70, and south on I-675 to south I-75, I hate driving through Dayton anyway.
As far as approaching Cincinnati, just don’t do it in the morning between 6 and 10 am, and it shouldn’t be too bad. You can take I-275 east to I-71 south, and take that into the city, it’s usually a bit lighter in traffic, but getting into the city on the east side from I-71 is a bit more work, most of the more interesting stuff is on the western side near the I-75 corridor.
Horrible? It’s just a couple of hours, right? Depending on when you hit Dayton. There’s a huge construction project going on between mile 5 and 1 on 75 right now, but that shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes to get through during rush hour.
FWIW, my brother bought tix for the HRD on StubHub for my birthday, and he apparently paid upwards of 300 clams each for seats along the third base line. I don’t even wanna know what tickets for the actual game cost.
Anyway, if you do go to the game, the biggest pain in the ass, driving wise, is going to be finding parking near the actual ballpark. The recent redevelopment of the Riverfront has made the parking situation excruciating, even for sparsely-attended games, unless you get there hours in advance, and the new “neighborhood” around the stadium (The Banks) is pretty charmless, unless you really like Bud Light.
If you’re determined to make the game, I would suggest parking up in Clifton near UC some time in the afternoon, Uber or cabbing it down to Over The Rhine and hanging on Main/Vine Streets for a few hours, and then hoofing it to the ballpark.
Shoot! You should’ve come sooner, you just missed the Strawberry Festival. I was passing out samples of strawberry salsa. 
If you don’t mind me asking, what are you in town for?