“This project is highly important to the safety of the traveling public in and thru Greene County and is to save lives,” Goff said.
There is currently a stop light at this intersection.
The county plans to apply for funding through the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC), which helps the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) select projects to fund. The county has been working on making this intersection safer for years.
“This proposed interchange is part of the final component of the long-term project to upgrade U.S. 35 from Dayton to Charleston, West Virginia. I believe we are providing a strong application to the TRAC committee for construction funding and we want to thank the Greene County Commissioners for their support and financial commitment of 20% local funding for the project,” Goff told the Dayton Daily News.
Greene County commissioners approved a letter of support and committed up to $6.4 million to the project at their meeting on Thursday.
“This would be big for the community if we got it,” Commissioner Dick Gould said.
Goff said she is hopeful and excited for the county to get this funding.
This intersection improvement was identified in the 1976 and 1987 ODOT Thoroughfare Plans as a needed improvement, Goff said.
The interchange study was competed in 2011 and the preliminary engineering study on the intersection was completed in 2012. An environmental study was completed in 2015.
The original project with ODOT was three intersections: Factory Road, Orchard Lane and Trebein Road and U.S. 35. Due to the size of the project, it was broken into two projects. The intersections of Factory and U.S. 35 and Orchard and U.S. 35 are currently under construction and will be completed later this year. This is the “superstreet” project which is set to be complete in spring of 2022.
In 2018, ODOT TRAC awarded funds for the design and to purchase the right of way for this U.S. 35 and Trebein Road project, Goff said.
Greene County presented this project to TRAC in 2019 for construction funding and was unsuccessful. Greene County then submitted this project to TRAC in 2020 for construction funding but the funding round was eliminated due to COVID’s effect on the state gas tax.
Beavercreek Schools, Greene County Port Authority, Greene County Regional Airport Authority, the city of Beavercreek, Clark State University, Ohio University, the city of Fairborn, the Dayton Development Coalition, the Greene County Career Center, the Beavercreek fire department, the city of Xenia, Nutter Enterprises and Phillips Company have all given letters of support to be turned in with the TRAC application. Congressman Mike Turner has also given a letter of support for the project.
This intersection is the first traffic signal after driving more than 100 miles west across Ohio on U.S. 35, Goff said.
“The types of crashes that occur at this intersection unfortunately are severe, as many involve semi-trucks,” Goff said. “There are also capacity issues. During peak times, vehicles back up beyond Dayton-Xenia Road, up the off-ramp on U.S. 35 and on U.S. 35 toward Dayton.”
Goff said many safety improvements have been added to this intersection, like additional signage or flashing signage, but safety issues still exist and congestion continues.
Commissioners last week also approved a letter of support for submitting a TRAC application for an I-675 and Wilmington Pike project. This application is asking for funding for engineering work on the project. Commissioners were not asked for a local match for this project.
TRAC applications are due March 26. Goff would submit the commissioners’ letter of support and some safety studies along with this year’s application. The final list of projects will be presented in August of this year.
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