Editor
The Clermont County Transportation Improvement District has several construction projects planned for this year, including reconnecting a road that has been disconnected for more than 40 years.
Aicholtz Road was disconnected in the early 1970s when Interstate 275 was built, said Craig Stephenson, Clermont County chief deputy county engineer.
“It’s an important local network connection,” Stephenson said.
The project will reconnect Aicholtz so that it runs from Mt. Carmel Tobasco Road to past Eastgate Boulevard, which should relieve congestion on state Route 32. The project will also add a sidewalk on the south side that will reach Ivy Pointe, Stephenson said.
The TID opened bids on March 31 and the bids came in at $6.5 million, half a million under the estimated $7 million cost. The project will hopefully begin in a month or so, said Pat Manger, Clermont County engineer.
The project should be largely complete by the end of this year, Stephenson said.
The Old 74 Widening project should also relieve congestion. It will improve a .7 mile stretch of Old state Route 74 between Olive Branch-Stonelick Road and Armstrong Boulevard.
The project will include improvements to the Olive Branch-Stonelick and Old 74 intersection and the Amelia Olive Branch Road and Old 74 intersection, in addition to improvements to the surface drainage along the road, Manger said.
The project will also add a center turning lane to the road, which should improve the flow of traffic. There are a lot of houses along the road, so when a driver is turning into a driveway, traffic usually gets backed up, Manger said.
The last improvement will be the addition of a sidewalk on the south side of the road, said Stephenson.
The TID is working on getting the project out to bid. It should be out to bid within the next couple of weeks, Manger said.
The project will likely start in June and end in the fall of 2017. The TID estimates the cost will be about $3.75 million, according to the website.
The Wolfpen Pleasant-Hill Safety Improvement project is an effort to do just as the name suggests; the TID would like to improve the safety of the road.
The utility company using poles along that road are currently relocating the poles to accommodate the improvements, which should be done at the end of May. Construction will likely begin in June or July, Stephenson said.
The improvements involve realigning the road so it will be safer to navigate and putting up new retaining walls. The drainage at the top of the hill is poor, so the road gets slippery and icy easily, causing drivers to lose control. The drainage will also be changed, Stephenson said.
The project will likely cost about $2.8 million and the road will be closed once construction begins until the end of the year. The TID plans to open the road over the winter and then put the final asphalt on in the spring of next year, Stephenson said.
While the road is closed, local access will be maintained to Raintree and Kimberly Drive.