BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HARRISON -- Fed up with long lines of traffic along New Haven Road near Interstate 74, city council is proposing some changes.
The council hired TEC Engineering Inc. to study traffic development patterns between Harrison Road and Carolina Trace Road, and presented the company's recommendations to the public Tuesday night.
"I didn't hear any major complaints" from residents, said Councilwoman Judy Kercheval. "Some minor fine-tuning things were brought up, and we can do something about them."
Once the plan is adjusted and approved, council will apply for funding grants and ask the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to surrender an 11-foot strip of land that could be used to widen New Haven Road. A new traffic light would be installed at Blackburn Road, and there would be limits on the number of driveways developers could build onto New Haven Road.
The plan should make it easier for local commuters and shoppers and, more important, would pave the way for a spurt of development on New Haven Road east of I-74.
"As soon as we can get the congestion taken care of, the better it's going to be for everyone," said Service Director Richard Dole.
"The developers aren't going to want to develop out here if they can't get access (to New Haven Road), and the general public isn't going to go to the businesses if you can't make it easy for them," he said.
New Haven Road west of I-74 is already built up with strip malls and fast-food restaurants. A hotel, gas station and tractor sales showroom are under construction. And the growth is beginning to spread to the east.
"It has become a traffic nightmare," Ms. Kercheval said. She said the main problem is the two-lane bridge over I-74, with inadequate turn lanes onto the interstate and left-turn signals that allow only a couple of cars through at a time.
But the bridge is owned by ODOT, and that agency said a couple of years ago that there was not enough traffic to warrant a major widening project. It does not plan to widen the bridge until about 2010, Ms. Kercheval said.
City officials plan to present ODOT with updated traffic figures and make an argument for widening the bridge sooner.
In the meantime, TEC Engineering recommended some interim steps: If ODOT would surrender an 11-foot right of way, a turn lane could be built at the interstate on-ramps. And from I-74 to Harrison Road, the number of driveways between parking lots and the roadway would be decreased, from 16 to 12.
In the area between I-74 and Carolina Trace Road, where city officials expect to one day see a major shopping center and housing, the consultant suggested limited access and traffic lights.
The projects may be funded by a combination of government grants and contributions from developers, Ms. Kercheval said.
"We want to be a proactive community . . . and be able to accommodate growth," Mr. Dole said. "I don't like to see our city just busting out (with development), but it's going to come and we have to be ready for it. Harrison's not a sleepy little town anymore. It's a city."
