Thursday, April 01, 1999
Revised I-71 plan due today
Businesses fear tourist tie-ups
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Angry business owners along Interstate 71 in Warren County have state officials scrambling to revise their plans for highway repair during the popular tourist area's lucrative summer months.
Today, officials from the Ohio De partment of Transportation (ODOT) will meet with representatives from Paramount's Kings Island, the Great American Insurance ATP Championship, the Kroger Senior Golf Classic, Marriott Cincinnati Northeast and other Warren County businesses to propose another I-71 repair plan.
Last week, ODOT announced two repair and road-widening projects, one of which is to begin Monday, estimated to cause 3-mile backups along I-71 during summer weekends. Local tourism officials and business owners, however, fear 10-mile traffic tie-ups.
ODOT officials intend to present a revised highway project plan to Warren County area representatives today. State transportation leaders would not discuss details of their new highway repair proposal Wednesday.
“The project is still under discussion, ” ODOT spokeswoman Kim Patton said.
Business and sporting event exec utives in Warren County have complained that ODOT gave them short notice about the upcoming highway projects. They also said ODOT's original proposal did not include keeping two lanes of highway traffic open in both directions during the crowded summer weekends.
Tim Fisher, executive vice president and general manager of Paramount's Kings Island, said that while ODOT officials supplied some notice seven weeks ago, it was not until last week that he learned the full scope of the two repair projects. They would close down parts of 24 miles of the highway through Warren and southern Clinton County.
“We didn't know the full extent until just recently,” Mr. Fisher said.
Kings Island alone expects to attract as many as 3.5 million visitors this summer season — or about 50,000 per day.
Kent Bruggeman, general manager of the Marriott Cincinnati North east Hotel on Mason-Montgomery Road, said the anticipated traffic back-ups along I-71 will cause area attractions “serious business interruptions.”
ODOT had proposed to repair 17 miles of I-71 from Ohio 48 to just north of Ohio 380 in Clinton County.
A second ODOT project is tentatively scheduled to start in July and will widen I-71 from two to three lanes each way from I-275 to Western Row Road.
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