COLUMBUS -- The long-awaited Butler Regional Highway could see traffic as early as December 1999. Bids were opened in Columbus Friday to build the four-lane link from Hamilton to Interstate 75.
Expected to cost an estimated $92.7 million, the highway is expected to be one of Ohio's most expensive highway construction projects this year, state officials said.
Leaders promised it would bring traffic relief and a wave of new jobs and companies to southern Butler County, one of the fastest-growing areas of the Tristate.
"This is the most significant public works project in the history of Butler County," said Butler County Commissioner Michael Fox, who is also chairman of the Butler County Transportation District, the agency that designed and is paying for the road.
"As a result of this project, Butler County residents can expect to see more jobs created for their families in the future than anyplace else in Southwest Ohio."
About 11 miles long, the project ties Hamilton's Ohio 4 and High Street intersection to I-75 with a four-lane divided highway lined with subdivisions and soundwalls in Liberty and Fairfield townships. It will cost about $8.4 million per mile to build, said Randall Howard, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, which oversaw the bidding process.
"It's a pretty decent price," he said. "In fact, it's a really decent price. We are very pleased."
The low bidder on the job was Kokosing Construction, but ODOT must review in detail the company's bid before it can be formally awarded.
"We have to await evaluation to be sure, and that should take about 10 days," said Karen Lane DeRosa, communications director for the Butler County Transportation Improvement District.
A ground-breaking ceremony is planned for May 15.
Although the transportation district -- a panel of representatives appointed by Butler County, Hamilton, Fairfield and Union, Fairfield and Liberty townships -- has managed the project since 1995, ODOT was in charge of opening bids Friday.
ODOT will also oversee the project until it is completed.
Mr. Fox said the project has piqued the interest of two companies from outside the region to consider relocating to land east of Hamilton and west of the Ohio 4 bypass.
The companies would immediately bring 1,000 jobs to the region, he said. Future expansion could escalate the total to 1,700 jobs within a few years. A site in Fairfield near Symmes Road also is being considered.
He would not identify the firms.
Some unanswered questions about the highway remain, Mr. Fox acknowledged. The biggest question is whether the highway will have tolls.
The transportation district sold $158 million in bonds in 1997 to pay for project costs, like the right-of-way and construction. ODOT will make annual lease payments of $11 million to $12.5 million to the district to retire the debt.
Because the district is obligated to make millions of dollars in local roadway improvements, such as widening Ohio 747 and Muhlhauser and Symmes roads, tolls on the highway may be required to pay for those jobs and for regional highway maintenance, Mr. Fox said. No land in the 11-mile right-of-way has been purchased for toll booths. Creating toll facilities now would mean a new series of hearings on environmental issues before the land can be acquired, he said.
