Cincinnati and Hamilton County need to come up with nearly $5.2 million by Aug. 30, or construction on the new Reds ballpark won't start on time. The money, an addition to the $280 million Fort Washington Way project, is needed to build a ramp connecting traffic on the new Second Street with Broadway, providing access to Newport and Cincinnati's southeast quadrant, which contains Western-Southern Life Insurance Co. and the Firstar Center.

"Without it, they can't start on the Reds site," said John Deatrick, the Cincinnati city engineer overseeing the Fort Washington Way construction.

Now, Levee Way connects commuters from Northern Kentucky and Interstate 75 with the eastern part of downtown Cincinnati.

But the temporary road that's part of Fort Washington Way construction needs to come down so the Reds ballpark can be built.

It won't be torn down until the new ramp is built. And for the new ramp to be built by August 2000, when Reds construction is scheduled to begin, the contract needs to be bid out by Aug. 30.

"Everybody agrees the ramp needs to be built," Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said. "It's just a matter of figuring out how."

City and county leaders say they are discussing how they can come up with the nearly $5.2 million.

"It's still under discussion," said Hamilton County Administrator David Krings. "I think it will all be worked out."

"I'm sure that something will happen soon," added Cincinnati Deputy City Manager Richard Mendes. "There's a couple of different resources to look at, a variety of different capital funds."

Finding this nearly $5.2 million is the latest threat to hold up the central riverfront development, which one consultant called one of the most complicated projects going on in the United States.

Planners have also had to look for hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for engineering work needed to keep the whole project on schedule. And, the city will have to find as much as $59 million to build roads and sidewalks and relocate utilities.

The nearly $5.2 million ramp was not an original part of the Fort Washington Way reconstruction project.

The project started last summer as a $149.6 million effort to narrow and straighten the downtown expressway to make it safer, but it provided momentum for other riverfront improvements.