Motorists now fly or tunnel past Eastgate traffic
Whether you choose to fly over or tunnel under traffic, it just got easier to travel from Interstate 275 to destinations beyond Eastgate on state Route 32.
New Ohio Department of Transportation projects allow motorists who want to use eastbound state Route 32 to get past Eastgate to take a “flyover” ramp from southbound I-275 or a tunnel from northbound I-275 to avoid new traffic signals and merge onto eastbound state Route 32 east of Eastgate Boulevard.
The work in Union Township all but caps off a $46 million, two-year-long reconstruction of the I-275/state Route 32 interchange, which is part of the Eastern Corridor Program - a regional effort to increase connectivity and encourage economic development between downtown Cincinnati and the area’s eastern communities.
“This project is a critical part of the infrastructure of Clermont County and eastern Hamilton County, providing more efficient travel throughout the area,” said Tammy Campbell, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s district office in Lebanon.
“We are proud to have worked with the Clermont County Transportation Improvement District, the Clermont County engineer and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments in seeing this project through construction.”
Workers will in the next couple weeks finish up at the I-275 interchange by applying a final application of asphalt to state Route 32 between Old state Route 74 and Glen Este-Withamsville Road, said Sharon Smigielski, public information officer with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s district office in Lebanon.
Work already completed on the interchange includes widened and realigned lanes along Eastgate North Drive, a widened and reconstructed Eastgate Boulevard over state Route 32 and relocated westbound entrance and exit ramps from state Route 32 to Eastgate North Drive.
Smigielski said the next phase of work in the Eastgate area will involve improvements to state Route 32 between Eastgate Boulevard and Olive Branch-Stonelick Road.
She said the phase will include:
•widening state Route 32 by adding a travel lane in each direction;
•removing traffic signals and closing local access along state Route 32 between Eastgate Boulevard and Olive Branch-Stonelick Road;
•providing a new westbound exit from state Route 32 to Glen Este-Withamsville Road and an eastbound exit to Clepper Lane;
•constructing a new bridge to allow Glen Este-Withamsville Road to travel over state Route 32;
•extending Clepper Lane east to Bach Buxton Road;
•better connecting Old state Route 74, Glen Este-Withamsville Road and Clepper Lane with state Route 32;
•building a new bridge to allow Old state Route 74 to travel over state Route 32.
•constructing a new state Route 32 interchange near Bach Buxton Road and Elick Lane, which also is to include a bridge over state Route 32.
Smigielski said the new state Route 32 interchange at Bach Buxton Road and Elick Lane is an Ohio Department of Transportation project with a scheduled construction period of 2020 to 2022.
She said the other work will be managed by Clermont County with a scheduled construction period of 2019 to 2021.
Want to know more about what is happening in Union Township? Follow me on Twitter @jeannehouck.