The project, expected to cost about $250,000 and be privately funded, would give the eastern access to the 142-acre mixed use development near Interstate 75 three turn lanes, two of which would be northbound, officials said. It would also increase the number of pedestrian crossings.
The proposal is designed to “increase the safe travel of cars and pedestrians through the development,” said Kyle Hinkelman, Miami Twp.’s deputy director of community development.
Kohl’s Access Road, which will be renamed Liverpool Lane, is Austin Landing’s main north-south access for motorists. A traffic study done earlier this year shows the intersection of Kohl’s Access/Landing Way — during peak usage — handles more than 1,100 vehicles while nearly 2,100 travel through the Landing Way/Ohio 741 intersection.
But the projected traffic numbers at the proposed light are expected to be much higher upon “full build out,” said Bo Gunlock, president of RG Properties, developer of Austin Landing. Those will take into account two multimillion projects now under way — a 274-unit upscale apartment complex and a 108-room extended stay hotel, he said.
“It will be very important that the signal is operational before all of that,” Gunlock said.
“The (traffic) study really takes into consideration the traffic that’s there today,” he said. But “we know that in late 2016 we know we’re going to this many cars at the intersection and you design it for that.”
The traffic study has been approved by the Montgomery County Engineer’s Office and the Ohio Department of Transportation, officials said. The traffic signal plan had been scheduled to go before the Miami Twp. Zoning Commission this week. However, the plan’s design is still awaiting county and ODOT approval, so it is not likely to go before the township until next month, Gunlock said.
The traffic light planned for the current Kohl’s Access Road/Landing Way intersection would include four pedestrian push-button signals and crosswalks, Hinkelman said. The proposal calls for additional pedestrian crossings on Kohl’s Access Drive in the vicinity of the department store’s front doors, he said.
These would be designed to improve safer access to parking areas and to the development’s village area, he said.
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