A long-planned project to improve Paragon Road from Spring Valley Road to the Centerville corporation line is finally nearing the green light.

Washington Twp. trustees are expected to vote Aug. 20 on the $1.8 million plan, which will include widening both lanes of the less than mile-long section of the two-way road, softening two sharp “S” curves, adding turn lanes at the entrances to the Paragon Place and Estates of Paragon housing developments, and a sidewalk on the east side of the road.

Curbs, gutters and storm sewers will be installed, with fencing, trees and other landscaping. Open ditches currently flank the pavement, where traffic often backs up during rush hour.

Work is expected to begin this fall, with completion in the spring of 2013. Washington Twp. will pay half the cost. The rest will come from an Ohio Public Works Commission grant.

Trustees have wanted to improve the section, which township public works director Mike Wanamaker describes as “an old country lane,” since 2004.

Six of the 23 adjoining property owners opposed selling land along the roadway, which led the township to begin eminent domain proceedings in 2010. Agreement was reached without trial. Township administrator Jesse Lightle said residents were paid between $40,000 and $65,000 per acre.

“We had a net take of 2.429 acres. This number does not include the right-of-way take that was already public road,” she said.

While each lane of Paragon will be expanded to 18 feet from a current width that fluctuates from 12 to 16, it will remain a two-lane road.

“We believe this will address the increase in traffic,” Lightle said.

A 2010 count showed more than 3,100 vehicles moving through the area each day, up from 1,538 in 2003 and just 404 in 1993.

“We also studied whether to widen it to three, four or five lanes, but owners told us they didn’t want to sell more property than was needed. They asked us to retain as much of the rural aspect as we could,” Wanamaker said.

“Before the economy declined, there were plans to extend Paragon as a connector all the way through to Sheehan Road. The rate of development has slowed considerably. We can’t project when traffic flow will increase to the extent that might be looked at again,” he said.

Capt. Dee Osterfeld of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department’s Washington Twp. office said there’s presently a fairly low rate of accidents in the location, where the speed limit will remain 35 miles per hour.