By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FAIRFIELD - Work has not been finished on Ohio 4 at the new Muhlhauser Road railroad overpass, and city officials already are talking about tearing up the road to the south.

In the next 18 months, the Ohio Department of Transportation will install medians, landscaping and lighting on Ohio 4 (Dixie Highway) from Stockton Station Lane to Woodridge Plaza, in accordance with the city's Insight 2010 master plan. Most of the $950,000 project will be paid with state and federal funds.

Fairfield and Springdale officials also have agreed to add a second left turn lane from southbound Ohio 4 to Crescentville Road, where the two cities meet. Work would be done in 2007, said City Manager Art Pizzano.

The city also has applied for a $1.45-million grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation Hazard Elimination System fund for the $2.1-million project.

Springdale also has promised to widen Ohio 4 south of Crescentville to provide a second southbound access lane to I-275, city council was told this week.

Mulhauser Road is scheduled to reopen by early fall, engineers said.

The road will be widened from two lanes to three or five lanes from the overpass to Ohio 747, providing another major artery from Ohio 4 to Union Centre Boulevard in West Chester Township.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com