Geographically, the “Innovation Corridor” as it stands today unites the University of Dayton campus through downtown and the Arcade, through Tech Town in the Webster Street District to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, said Joe Weinel, the city of Dayton’s chief engineer. As Weinel sees it, it also includes West Dayton and the West Dayton incubator.
Main Street and Patterson Boulevard area area seen as the area’s geographical center, Weinel said.
“That’s a big area,” he said.
The city would improve Third Street west to James H. McGee Boulevard, Germantown Street almost to McGee as well as Stewart Street from the Great Miami River to Interstate 75.
Federal funds would go to lighting, walkways, dedicated bike lanes, trees to calm traffic, resurfacing of roads, the removal of brick pavers (built in the early 1990s) on Main and Third streets, the replacement of some concrete sidewalks with planters and more, Weinel said.
In one sense, the overall objective is nothing new for Dayton. The city has been working on the corridor over the past decade and more. “We’ve done a lot of the work on this, but this (the grant) would complete it,” Weinel said.
The city has already improved parts of South Main, Brown and Warren streets, Springfield Street and other areas since 2010.
No bridge work is planned if the federal funds are secured. City bridges on Stewart, Washington, Fifth and Third streets have been completed in the past 15 years, Weinel noted.
The city’s application to the U.S. Department of Transportation is due Tuesday.
“The Downtown Innovation Corridor links the downtown core and Greater Tech Town/Webster Station with such assets as the Arcade Arts & Innovation Hub, Riverscape, Levitt Pavilion, Convention Center and the University of Dayton innovation community (anchored by the University of Dayton Research Institute) and the On Main project,” a city description of the project says. “It is important to strengthen the physical connections between this economic engine and the West Dayton community, which has experienced disinvestment over many decades.”
Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority trustees Tuesday approved $15,000 to support a contract with Beavercreek architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm Woolpert, for a cost assessment of the project.
“This grant that the city of Dayton is pursuing is a significant amount of capital that would look to improve the existing roadways, the existing walkways, lighting, other features around the pathway to Main, Patterson, and connecting out to the West Dayton Incubator out on Third Street,” Port Authority Executive Director Joe Geraghty said.
Chris Lipson, a city of Dayton senior development specialist, told Port Authority trustees Tuesday that the city is committed to submitting a “competitive application.”
“These are large grants,” Lipson said. “We’re competing against cities and communities much larger than us. But we have, we think, a shot. And we’re also learning a lot in the process of building relationships that will allow some of this work to go forward, whether we get grant or not.”
He added: “There’s so much federal money out there that we want to pursue in the next few years.”
In 2022, RAISE funded 166 projects nationwide out of more than 1,000 applications. The idea behind the money is to help communities complete freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects.
“This is a very competitive grant,” Weinel said. He expects well over 1,000 applications this year, as well.
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