Local officials, OVRDC discuss potential transportation projects

Highland County commissioners received an update on potential infrastructure projects during a Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) meeting Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) representatives Kim Reynolds, community development coordinator; Kara Willis, development director; and Vinny Xiao Wang, research/planning specialist, met with commissioners Shane Wilkin, Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer, Leesburg Mayor Danny Daulton, Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Todd Wilkin, Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley and Highland County Engineer Dean Otworth.

Willis presented the results of a recent OVRDC transportation survey of area residents.

Questions and responses from survey included:

1. Where do you see the greatest transportation-related safety issue within your county?

• The U.S. 62 corridor throughout the entire county and the S.R. 73 connector to the bypass in Clinton County and the city of Wilmington.

• In heavily congested areas.
• North High St. in Hillsboro.

2. Where do you see the most congestion within your county?

• U.S. 62 inside the City of Hillsboro.
• High Street through the entirety of Hillsboro, from Southern State Community College (north) to Hillsboro High School (south).

3. What single transportation project would provide the greatest benefit to your county?

• Three 12-foot lanes with curb and gutter improvements inside the City of Hillsboro, which would begin at the south corporation limit to the north corporation limit.
• Starting and finishing the much talked-about Hobart Drive extension project, which would create a new access point from U.S. 62 to S.R. 73.

Willis asked Otworth to mark areas on a map of the county that are considered in most need of expansion. Otworth marked U.S. throughout the entire county; S.R. 73 from Hillsboro to the Clinton County line; and the access to the Leesburg Industrial Park.

"We want to look at more regional projects," Reynolds advised local officials.

OVRDC is a public regional planning commission. OVRDC acts in the capacity of a regional economic and community development agency, coordinating federal, state and local resources to encourage development in 12 southern Ohio counties: Adams, Brown, Clermont, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Vinton.

Willis said a higher priority would likely be placed on more regional proposals that could have a positive impact on the 12-county district. She stressed that today's discussions were informal, and no plans have been finalized.

"At least 10 years ago, we had a committee meeting and talked of a U.S. 62 connector to I-71 via U.S. 35 to U.S. 68 south in Kentucky," Otworth said. "Included would be the (Route) 73 connector to Wilmington. It would definitely benefit the county and the region. It doesn't take a lot of studying to figure this out. It just makes sense."

"The 73 corridor would be a big-time economic development for us," Horst said.

Horst also pointed out the economic benefit to the regional through upgrading the rail line that serves Greenfield, Leesburg and New Vienna businesses.

"This also would be an opportunity to pull some of the traffic off Interstate 75," Otworth said.

"It makes us much more appealing to business," Wilkin said. "We just had a project where someone asked: 'How far are you from a four-lane.'"

Other than a very short section of the Appalachian Highway (S.R. 32) in Clay Township, Highland County has no four-lane highways.

"Transportation is the key to everything," Otworth said. "Jobs, farming ... a lot of jobs depend on transportation."

OVRDC was established in 1967 as a local development district under the Appalachian Regional Commission and as an economic development district under the Economic Development Administration. Since then, our capacity has grown as we strive to serve our communities as a planning organization focused on economic and community development. On July 1, 2013, OVRDC became a Regional Transportation Planning Organization through the Ohio Department of Transportation.