Saturday, October 02, 1999
Transport officials plead cases
They want a pie of projects; state panel offers sliver
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Like students pleading with a teacher to get a higher grade, Transportation planners in Southwest Ohio on Friday made their cases for new projects to a panel that will decide which ones get state money.
The message in the presentations to the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) echoed one another: We need to improve the road because it's too congested; the accident rate is higher than the state average; it will help economic development.
Statewide, local and county officials are requesting $1 billion in projects they want to see constructed in 2004. The panel made up of nine citizens from across the state has $150 million to give out.
They'll announce who will get money in November or December. The decision is made by scoring each project on accident rates, congestion and average daily traffic. Economic development is considered, too. Friday's presenta tions didn't earn county engineers, project managers or city leaders any points for their projects.
“If they don't think the black and white paper makes their case, this is a chance to articulate it,” said Gordon Proctor, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, who sits on the TRAC committee.
From bus centers to new interchanges and from light rail to road widening, engineers and consultants from Hamilton, Warren and Butler counties explained why they should get priority.
Even though they won't get points in the scoring process, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments' (OKI) Executive Director Jim Duane said it's important to go before the board because “it's the only opportunity to talk to people from across the state about your project.”
Using its own ranking system based on several of the same factors as the state as well as other factors, OKI presented a list to TRAC members of projects they thought should get money. On their list to get priority:
• An $11 million widening of River Road between Mount Echo Road and Fairbanks Avenue. TRAC request: $3 million.
• Knowlton's Corner transit center in Northside. A $3.7 million hub for the second heaviest used transfer points in the Metro system. TRAC request: $2.7 million.
• Overhaul of pavement on Interstate 75 between Ohio 129 to just south of Ohio 129 in Butler County. An upgrade of the Ohio 63 interchange. TRAC request: $39.4 million.
• Building a nearly $42 million, 9.2-mile Trenton Bypass highway near the Miller brewery in Butler County. TRAC request: $27.7 million.
• Widening Ohio 747 to five lanes from south of Smith Road north to the Butler Regional Highway. TRAC request: $11.1 million.
OKI's second-tier list of projects, which are in the development stage:
• A $539.7 million, 16-mile light rail line from downtown Cincinnati to Blue Ash. TRAC request: $126.7 million.
• A $10.3 million project that includes widening the New Haven Road bridge over Interstate 74 in Hamilton County to six lanes, widening off-ramps and widening New Haven Road. TRAC request: $8.4 million.
• Widening two-lane Montgomery Road to five lanes from Weller Road to just south of the Little Miami National Scenic River. Construction on the nearly 7-mile stretch would cost $50.1 million. TRAC request: $49 million.
• A $7 million widening of U.S. 27 in Oxford to three lanes. TRAC request: $3 million.
At the bottom of the OKI list:
• A $60 million widening of Ohio 73 from Ohio 741 to Interstate 71. TRAC request: $60 million ultimately; $3.5 million initially.
• A new $22.4 million interchange on I-75 south of Ohio 63. TRAC request: $11.2 million.
Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce members also analyzed the projects and gave their opinions. They supported these projects: River Road, Montgomery Road, light rail, Knowlton's Corner transit center, Trenton Bypass and the U.S. 27 widening through Oxford.
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