Saturday, December 04, 1999
Warren Co. group backs road projects
Businesses use pull for changes
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Two years after helping to secure funding to widen Interstate 71, a Warren County business leaders group decided Friday to flex their political muscle again on behalf of transportation improvements.
The I-71 Widening Coalition will expand its mission to support a spate of projects, which could include extending light rail into Mason and building a connector road between Interstates 75 and 71.
Political muscle
Support from the group, composed of many of Warren County's biggest employers, carries significant weight, transportation and government officials said.
“If you get the largest corporations and business interests together saying that they want a project, that's a major commitment of local support, and that can't be dismissed or downplayed,” said Warner Moore, director of corridor studies for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.
An executive committee will meet in the next month to research and prioritize the projects, said coalition chairman Frederick J. Gossman.
Warren County's Area Progress Council established the coalition in 1994 when the need was acute to widen I-71 to three lanes from Interstate 275 north to Ohio 48, and funding appeared to be in jeopardy. Last month, workers temporarily opened a third lane on I-71 from I-275 to Western Row Road. The $32 million project is targeted for completion in 2001.
Explosive development along the corridor necessitated a wider road, Mr. Gossman said: “The issue was not whether or not it was going to happen; it was when.”
Public opinion key
The coalition presented a united front of community support and bombarded state and federal offices with letters. The coalition's stationery listed the names of more than 50 supporters, including Procter & Gamble, Cintas and Paramount's Kings Island.
“It carried a lot of weight,” Mr. Gossman said.
Public opinion can make or break a project, said Hans Jindal, planning and environmental engineer with the southwest district of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Public support can move a project up a few notches on the priority scale, he said. And “if there's a controversy on the project, then the project is not very good, and the project does not go anywhere.”
Warren County Administrator Bob Price welcomes the group's involvement.
“Sometimes what it takes is the community stepping up and saying, "We need this,'” Mr. Price said.
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Warren Co. group backs road projects
