After a slow go, better traffic for Eastgate

Cherrie Blevins lives in Mount Carmel and works in Batavia, so every day she must maneuver past the orange barrels at Interstate 275 and Ohio 32.

"It's just stressful," Blevins, 39, said recently, standing in the Eastgate Mall parking lot. "Everybody's a little lost."

Fueling up at a nearby gas station, Jimmy Link, 54, of Clermont County's Union Township, said: "The morning rush hour and the evening commute, those are the worst times, no question." The bright side: "When you look at the big picture, it looks like it's going to make sense."

Ah, the big picture.

Clermont County Engineer Patrick Manger sees it as well as anyone. In fact, the picture of what the tangle of Eastgate-area roads will look like when construction is complete is laid out on a large table in his conference room. "This," he said in something of an understatement, "is a massive undertaking."

Nearly $80 million in Eastgate-area road improvements are in progress, with various pieces funded through the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Clermont County Transportation Improvement District and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.

Most of the work is happening in three phases. Phase 1, at Eastgate North Frontage Road, is completed. Phase 2, the reconstruction of Eastgate Boulevard over Ohio 32, is underway and should be done this fall. Phase 3, reconfiguring the I-275/Ohio 32 interchange, is expected to be finished in fall 2015.

"It would be one thing if this was all cornfield and we came in and built it (from scratch)," Manger said.

Instead, said Craig Stephenson, the county's chief deputy engineer, "It's like remodeling your house (while you are) living in it."

The I-275/Ohio 32 interchange is presently causing the most motorist angst. It was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a cloverleaf design, which tends to work well in rural areas, Stephenson said. As the Eastgate area developed, though, the cloverleaf's functionality declined. Short distances between on- and off-ramps meant some vehicles were accelerating while others were decelerating, and everyone was forced to merge quickly and jockey for position, creating a dangerous traffic weave.

That caused problems for northbound or southbound I-275 traffic (75,000 vehicles per day in 2010, estimated to jump to 83,000 in 2030), and eastbound or westbound Ohio 32 traffic (65,000 daily vehicles in 2010, rising to an estimated 79,000 in 2030), according to ODOT.

From 2009 to 2011, according to the department, about 100 rear-end and sideswipe accidents in the area were likely caused by traffic weaving between the closely spaced on- and off-ramps.

Once the interchange project is complete, five of the six dangerous weave situations will have been eliminated, ODOT says.

The new design will give motorists traveling southbound on I-275 onto Ohio 32 a choice: They can exit onto a new ramp that leads to a new traffic signal from which they can turn east or west onto Ohio 32. That option is in place. Eventually, traffic headed beyond Eastgate Boulevard will be able to exit onto a "flyover" ramp that bypasses that road.

Because the flyover ramp won't be finished until fall 2015, all southbound I-275 drivers headed to Ohio 32 must for the moment pass through the traffic signal. "That's the temporary pain that everybody's having to live through right now," Manger said.

To help lessen that pain, ODOT has been working with its contractor to add a lane to the off ramp some time this spring. Signal timing adjustments also are being made.

The situation is a bit better for northbound I-275 traffic.

Northbound traffic now exits at a new ramp leading to a new traffic signal at Ohio 32. Motorists can turn east or west. Because of backups there, a short connector to Ohio 32 was temporarily re-opened to give eastbound traffic a second option. Eventually, eastbound traffic will have the option of bypassing Eastgate Boulevard by merging with traffic on the flyover ramp from southbound I-275.

In the meantime, local businesses, especially those that rely on customers' driving to their stores, wait for construction to end.

"It has had somewhat of a negative impact on customer flow," said Jason Hubbard, manager of Mattress & Furniture Express on Eastgate Square Drive. "You kind of suffer through things, because something's going to be better."

At Jungle Jim's Eastgate store, "When they first started (construction), we thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is going to be brutal,' " said Phill Adams, development director. The store posted notices to alert customers to new traffic configurations weeks ahead of time. As it turns out, the construction "hasn't hurt us at all," Adams said. "Union Township police are out there every night, monitoring the light and controlling (traffic) when they need to. That's been a huge help." Overall, he said, it's been "a very smooth project."

Several smaller road projects are also in the works or soon will be: a roundabout at Eastgate South Drive; an extension of Ivy Pointe Boulevard; and the Aicholtz Road Connector, which will reconnect Mount Carmel Tobasco Road with Eastgate Boulevard.

It's all part of the massive undertaking that Manger knows can lead to headaches for motorists. His advice: "Continue to be patient. A real solution is on the way." ⬛