Fairborn to get $2M from state for 3 major street projects

Several gateways to Fairborn will be improved in the next few years.

Broad Street is scheduled to be repaved by 2023, Colonel Glenn Highway will be redone in 2021 and Central Avenue will be reconstructed in 2020.

The Central Avenue project will redo the road from Dayton Drive to Lindberg Avenue. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will cover 80% of the $1.2 million project, said Fairborn City Engineer Lee Harris.

Construction on Central Avenue will begin in February 2020 and end in the spring.

The Broad Street project will improve the road from the entrance to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to Pierce Drive. Broad Street will be reduced from four lanes to three. A turning lane will be added in the center.

The city is also considering adding bike lanes along Broad Street.

Assistant City Engineer Manuel Jacobs said the city will most likely hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate pedestrian-friendly options for Broad Street. Jacobs said the city will then hold public meetings to get public input.

Jacobs said the Broad Street project is scheduled to start in September 2022 and end the following September.

The project will cost nearly $3 million, and ODOT has awarded the city a grant for $350,000 of the project. The local share will come from the city’s roadway funds.

Jacobs said that traffic will be disrupted with both the Broad Street and Colonel Glenn Highway projects, but the city doesn’t plan to close either road for extended periods of time.

It it likely that during construction, traffic would be restricted to one lane going either direction, Jacobs said.

New sidewalk and pedestrian crossings will be added in the Colonel Glenn Highway project. ODOT will cover about 80% of the $1.2 million project. The city will pay about $245,000 for the project out of the roadway fund. This project is in design right now and construction is scheduled to start in March of 2021, Jacobs said.

Fairborn City Council approved the agreements with ODOT for these projects at its meeting on Monday evening. In total, Fairborn will receive more than $2 million from ODOT for these road improvement projects.

Jacobs said many of these projects are possible because of the city’s street levy.

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