Jerome Township Trustees discussed road improvements along the U.S. 33 corridor with state and county agencies during Tuesday’s meeting.
Most of the conversation revolved around projects at the U.S. 33/U.S. 42 interchange and intersections at Industrial Parkway.
Anthony Turowski, planning engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation, said there is “a safety issue out there” due the intersection’s current configuration and the high volume of traffic.
He said the project will be split into two phases: off-ramps and intersections.
Turowski described the project as consisting of “fairly bread and butter improvements,” aimed at improving safety.
The off-ramps portion is already underway, Turowski said.
The first phase will include widening the off-ramps to add side-by-side turn lanes and “signalizing” them.
Turowski said this portion of the project is already fully funded and awarded to Shelly & Sands, a Zanesville-based company.
Signal poles to be used for the project are on order, he added, and said he anticipates they will be placed over the winter. Turowski said the lanes will be open by July 15, 2021.
Paving on the off-ramps may take place this fall, but Turowski said the “weather points to no.”
The second phase of the project is the intersection portion.
Turowski said this portion is in “plan development.”
He said the “major schedule driver” for the project is acquiring the right-of-way where necessary.
In the meantime, Turowski said ODOT is working with developers to incorporate improvements warranted by their projects into the state’s plans.
He said this will lower costs and overall impact on traffic by leveraging “developers’ money and improvements.”
For instance, he said ODOT’s project will occur at the same time that the Pioneer Crossing residential development adds turn lanes so road improvements do not affect traffic flow on two separate occasions.
“It’s a good situation where we can work together and lower the cost for everybody involved,” he said.
However, Turowski said it takes time to develop detailed plans and “partner with everybody in the area.”
He said the intersection phase is scheduled to begin in 2022 and work will likely continue into 2023. Turowski estimated it is a year-and-a-half project.
Unlike the off-ramp portion, Turowski said the intersection phase is not yet fully funded.
The project is approximately $700,000 short of the total $6.6 million cost, he explained.
He said funding is moving in the right direction, though. He noted that Union County created a Transportation Improvement District (TID), which allows them to access another $250,000 in state funding.
Trustee Joe Craft suggested the board make a donation using funds collected from the permissive license tax but he and Trustee Megan Sloat agreed to consider it further when the full board is present, as Trustee C.J. Lovejoy was absent.
Turowski noted that ODOT projects are designed for a 10-20 year horizon, based on a “ramp-use forecast” from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). He said this ensures they accommodate for projected growth in the area.
For this specific project, he said ODOT was also able to cross-reference their information with traffic impact studies from developers, like FedEx.
For that reason, he said “we have a little bit better idea than the average project.”
Turowski also shared information as to how projects are prioritized by ODOT, based on the agency’s project guide.
He said ODOT essentially “sets aside buckets of money to achieve different goals,” including safety and preservation.
From there, studies are conducted to determine what project will result in the most “bang for our buck” in regard to those goals.
Union County Engineer Jeff Stauch and Assistant Engineer Bill Narducci were also present to discuss how funding and growth are related.
Stauch noted that “growth doesn’t necessarily mean road funding.”
He said revenue for roads and bridges comes mainly from three sources: the gas tax, license fees and a portion of the county sales tax.
The fees imposed on developers is playing an increasingly large role in road funding, he added.
He and Narducci said the FedEx project is an example of the importance of partnering with developers.
Stauch said FedEx initially proposed committing $700,000 for traffic improvements warranted by their business, but the county negotiated and received $7 million instead.
He said it is “very unusual to be able to get that type of partnership with developers.”
Although Stauch said they would have liked to receive closer to $10 million to include the cost of maintenance, but $7 million was “about the best we could do.”
Craft said it is tough to put parameters in place for responsible growth when demand in the area is so high. Even so, he said he feels Jerome Township is in an enviable position.
“It’s very challenging but I think we’re all in a very fortunate position,” Craft said.
Turowski said he plans to present an update on the project at a future trustees meeting in approximately six months.