Saturday, December 11, 1999
Butler Hwy. completion long-awaited
6 11-mile connector open Monday
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FAIRFIELD TWP. — Amid the speeches, music and balloons that dedicated the Michael A. Fox Highway on Friday, Eric Middlebrook stood quietly in the background, wearing a once-common yellow button that said simply: “Build the Highway.”
That was the message the former head of the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce recalls carrying in hundreds of trips to Columbus to push for the Butler County highway project over the years. He remembered the obstacles the county had to overcome to get the road built in an era of declining highway construction, and the opposition from residents along the corridor.
The theme resonated throughout the county in the 1980s and early 1990s: Build the Highway.
“That was one of my focused efforts for six years,” said Mr. Middlebrook. “It makes you realize what can be accomplished when people pull together. It's here in black and white. We're standing on it.”
The 11-mile road, also known as the Butler Regional Highway, connects Hamilton with Interstate 75 and is set to open at noon on Monday, officials of the Butler County Transportation Improvement District said. Roughly one-mile stretches at the ends of the highway opened in October.
The divided, four-lane highway is expected to handle 35,000 vehicles a day, relieving traffic pressure on secondary roads. Officials expect it will be an economic development engine for Hamilton and parts of Liberty and Fairfield townships.
The road has interchanges at Bypass 4, Ohio 747, Cincinnati-Dayton Road and I-75.
The highway cost $158 million and will open eight months early. Kokosing Construction will receive a $4.9 million reward for meeting various project incentives, including the early finish. Columbus-based Kokosing had a $93 million contract for the highway project, excluding the incentives, said Greg Wilkens, TID executive director.
Standing beneath a huge tent set up for the occasion, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft told 200-plus people that the project allows Hamilton to shed the dubious distinction of being one of the largest cities in the country without interstate access. He also mentioned the wetlands created as part of the project and the bridge over Mauds Hughes Road, the largest bridge in the county and one of the biggest in south western Ohio.
“This is an innovative project in so many ways,” Gov. Taft said. “This is an historic day.”
Some people, though, cringe at the thought of another highway.
“The leading cause of sprawl is highways,” said Glen Brand, director of the National Sierra Club field office in Cin cinnati. “That we are celebrating the opening of a new highway on the eve of the 21st century is really a sad thing. This would be like celebrating obesity.”
Sprawl leads to more travel time, pollution and the loss of green space, he said. Instead of building new highways, more effort should be placed on land use planning, greater transpor tation choices, revitalizing current neighborhoods and fixing existing roads, Mr. Brand said.
“One definition of madness is you keep repeating the same thing and expect a different result,” Mr. Brand said. “It's time that we turn away from these failed sprawl policies. ... This is no longer a cause for celebration.”
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