LEXINGTON — The next step for a proposed connecting road from Ohio 97/U.S. 42 to the intersection of Hanley and Lexington-Springmill roads is an environmental study.
That was the message Wednesday during a Richland County Regional Planning Commission meeting from Eric Smith, director of transportation engineering for Davey Resource Group.
The Medina-based company recently completed a $250,000 feasibility study for the project on behalf of the village of Lexington, using grant funds obtained through the planning commission.
“The next step would be to try to secure (grant) funding for an environmental-type analysis,” said Smith, pointing toward elements in the National Environmental Policy Act required when trying to obtain federal funds for such a project.
“Has anyone heard of NEPA?” Smith asked, saying it required a study of impacts on things like “wetlands, the streams, the bugs and the bunnies.
“You need to know what those impacts are going to be,” he said.
It’s a long-range proposed project. Lexington Mayor Bob Jarvis said in November the feasibility study was just a first step and that construction wouldn’t begin until at least 2025, even if the funds are secured.
The estimated price tag for such a connector road is around $18.5 million. It would require significant federal grants to cover about 80 percent of the work, but Jarvis said in November the village would also need to secure about $3.5 million.
The project, which would require annexing land from Troy Township, has been talked about for nearly 50 years, according to Jarvis. He said in November the connector could increase residential, commercial and light-industrial districts, as well as the village tax base.
Smith said the study, which included meetings with residents and stakeholders, helped to identify a transportation-based need for the connector road.
The new road would begin as a continuation of Miller Express Lane and continue northwest through mostly undeveloped land and end with a new roundabout at the intersection of Hanley and Lex-Springmill.
Using models developed by RCRPC, Smith said the new road would help reduce traffic on the heavily-used Hanley Road.
“(In the model), we found it was drawing not a lot of traffic from the village … it was drawing a lot of traffic off Hanley,” Smith said, adding there are currently 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles a day on the road.
He said the connector would not harm the village economy.
“It (would pull) a couple of thousand cars a day off Hanley,” he said. “It’s going to help reduce truck traffic in the village, but the model says we’re not going to pull that much traffic from Lexington. There are still a lot of destinations in Lexington, so I don’t think it would hurt (the village).
“For the folks who live on Hanley, I think they would enjoy the fact there is less traffic,” Smith said.
Smith acknowledged the meetings with residents and other stakeholders were not all positive.
“Some people were not very happy at all with the project. But we will listen to what folks have to say. Nobody wants to do something that’s going to really damage anybody,” he said.
“We got an (overall) positive reaction. I’m sure, if you asked the mayor, he would confirm that overall it was a successful process,” Smith said.