Butler County Engineer Dean
C. Foster reports that full construction of the Union Centre
Boulevard interchange in Union Township is now underway. The
BCEO is managing this much anticipated project for the Transportation
Improvement District (TID).
Piles have been driven in
preparation for pouring the pier footers in the I-75 median.
Next Wednesday, May 14, is the target date for the pour. Additionally,
dirt is now being moved into place for the bridge embankment
on I-75's east side. By late next week workers will begin to
drive piling for the bridge abutment on the west side. Bridge
beams and all materials for signalization and signing are being
ordered so everything will arrive by mid-summer.
The interchange will link
the new Union Centre Boulevard from Cincinnati Dayton Road on
the east to Beckett Road on the west. Schumacher Dugan Construction
of Union Township will fund construction of the west portion
of the new roadway.
The County Engineer's Office
is managing the TID-funded interchange project as it did the
Ohio 747 / Tylersville Road intersection upgrade last year. As
state and federal road construction dollars become increasingly
more scarce, the Butler County Engineer's Office fully supports
new funding alternatives. In Butler County, one of those alternatives
is the TID, which primarily covers southeast corner of the County.
Innovative financing is the
key to speeding up construction of much-needed projects for which
traditional funding methods have been difficult, since most local,
state, and federal budgets are already stretched. The legislation
that was passed in 1993 authorizing creation of the TID to help
fund specific projects such as the Union Centre Boulevard interchange,
the Butler Regional Highway, and the widening of Ohio 747, set
up the opportunity to partner with the TID. This partnership
can help facilitate construction of many projects that will improve
our infrastructure system for the safety of the motoring public.
