Horn said the city has placed electronic billboards along Wilmington Pike and Whipp Road, urging drivers to use the Wilmington Pike entrance to Cornerstone of Centerville, while road work on Feedwire Road is completed.
“That’s really going to be a little easier access than using Feedwire right now,” Horn told the Dayton Daily News.
Mary Bernhard is a Centerville resident living on Old Whipp Road, which is near the Wilmington-Feedwire intersection.
Bernhard said she is excited about the Cornerstone development and the opening of the Costco store today, but understands the traffic will be an issue until improvements are made.
“This road can be brutal,” Bernhard said. “The lights aren’t timed properly, so there’s nobody moving. It’s gridlocked.”
Horn said the city will be widening Wilmington Pike to three lanes northbound with a designated right turn lane at Feedwire.
“You will see barrels going up over the winter along Wilmington Pike,” the city manager said. “There will be some construction, really mostly off the roadway, getting utilities, underground work started.”
The construction, including the current widening project underway on Feedwire, that’s added an additional right turn lane at Wilmington, and the Wilmington widening project is expected to cost the city around $3 million when the work is completed around summer 2015, Horn said.
The city manager urged residents to be patient as the adjustments are made to allow for further development.
“There will be some struggles at times,” Horn told the newspaper. “We’ll have some weather issues, we’ll have obviously heavy holiday traffic, but we have the projects in the hopper right now to get this through.”
Kelle Fecher, a Sugarcreek Twp. resident, said is frustrated with all the construction, but is ready for the new businesses to move in.
“I’m kinda done with the construction, but I know it will be over with soon,” Fecher said. “I’m excited that there’s new business and industry.”
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