Monday, April 05, 1999
Connector could ease Florence Mall traffic
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE — For years, many Florence residents have complained about the lack of a good, local road to get them to Florence Mall and avoid constant traffic jams at either end of Mall Road. Now there may be a solution in sight.
Florence, Boone County and the state are finishing an agreement designed to ease traffic on U.S. 42 and Ky. 18, and give residents on Hopeful Church Road a better way to get to the mall.
“(U.S.) 42 is about as wide as it's going to get, and (Ky.) 18 has just been widened,” said Jeff Koenig, Florence public works director. “You can't just keep making the roads bigger and bigger.
“Sometimes you have to look for an alternate route.”
That alternate route is a two-lane, 0.6-mile road connecting Mall and Hopeful Church roads. It's in the state's six-year plan for road construc tion.
There is no road design yet, but the opening at Mall Road would likely be just south of the Kroger building, said Mr. Koenig, who added that the agreement could be finished within 60 days.
Mr. Koenig said the state estimated the cost for construction at $1.5 million with an additional $150,000 for utility relocation.
“Right now, the two unknowns are the right of way acquisition and the design costs,” he said. The state has already agreed to pay one-third of the construction and utility relocation costs, but Mr. Koenig said he would like all three agencies to pay a third of the total cost including design and right of way acquisition.
The agreement will also establish who the project's lead agency will be and spell out who will own the road and who will be responsible for maintaining it, he said.
Design could begin as early as three months, although construction isn't scheduled until 2001.
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