By John Byczkowski
Enquirer staff writer
Ohio is moving forward to design a replacement for a major section of Interstate 75 in Hamilton County.
The state Department of Transportation wants $15 million for environmental and construction design studies for widening a stretch of I-75 between Western Hills Viaduct and Mitchell Avenue.
But the work won't start until the 2011 construction season at the earliest.
The decision was disclosed Monday by the state's Controlling Board in the agenda for its meeting next Monday.
"The project objective is to reconstruct Interstate Route 75 to add capacity to effectively handle the high traffic volumes and high percentage of commercial vehicles using this section of the highway," as well as improve interchanges, the department said in its request for the money.
This 4.7-mile section is important and complex because it contains three busy interchanges - at Hopple Street, I-74 and Mitchell. The state estimates the project will cost $130 million, and contracts for construction will be awarded in October 2010.
The department recommends awarding the contract to TransSystems Corp. of Dublin, which was chosen over URS Corp. of Toledo and Parsons Brinckerhoff Ohio Inc., also of Dublin, which managed Fort Washington Way construction.
Brian Cunningham, a department spokesman, said more contracts might be forthcoming as studies for the North-South Transportation Initiative progress. Those studies examine options for rebuilding a 125-mile stretch of I-75 from Kentucky to Piqua, Ohio.
According to the transportation department's request to the Controlling Board, "The physical design of Interstate Route 75 is inadequate to handle the growing travel demand. The age and outdated design features include short distance between ramps, lack of adequate shoulders and truck parking areas, land continuity problems and inadequate merge and weave areas."
These flaws create traffic jams, ODOT said, because the road is too narrow and there's nowhere to move disabled vehicles. The project is not part of a $1.83 billion road-widening and light rail plan approved last fall by the region's transportation planning board.
That I-75 plan is supposed to eliminate major rush hour traffic tie-ups 30 years from now by making the expressway four lanes in each direction and giving some areas a fifth lane to reduce congestion. The light-rail system would offer trains every three minutes during rush hour.
So far, the planners haven't found the money to make the proposal real.
Three problem spots
Ohio wants to start planning replacements to three troubled interchanges on Interstate 75 in Cincinnati. They include:
