NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Disagreements between residents and state transportation officials threaten to delay progress toward a U.S. 33 bypass that residents of this Southeast Ohio community have wanted for decades.

        The $100 million bypass — a nine-mile stretch of four-lane highway about 55 miles southeast of Columbus — is still years away because the Ohio Department of Transportation doesn't have the money to build it.

        While it's waiting, ODOT is spending $9 million to develop and design the route so bulldozers can roll immediately when money becomes available. Officials plan to choose a final route by fall.

        The bypass is the last link of a highway modernization project that will connect Columbus to Charleston, W.Va. Already under construction are a Lancaster bypass in Fairfield County and a wider, straighter length of U.S. 33 between Athens and Darwin in Meigs County.

        As currently envisioned, the bypass would run from four-lane U.S. 33 in Haydenville in southeast Hocking County to an existing four-lane stretch of the same road in Doanville, south of Nelsonville. It would include two interchanges.

        Critics of the plan say ODOT initially proposed three interchanges. They also note that the proposed route would run through a residential neighborhood and force the demolition of several houses.

        “They need to recognize that this should be developed to meet the needs of our community,” said attorney Michael Nolan, leading the opposition to the proposed route.

        “The community feels betrayed. That's why we're so hostile,” he said.

        Several local governments once on record in favor of the bypass have adopted resolutions opposing it. Among them are Athens County commissioners, Nelsonville City Council, the Hocking College board of trustees and the Nelsonville-York school board.

        ODOT plans to solicit public comment through June 28 and review the plan at a meeting to be scheduled in July, spokeswoman Stephanie Filson said.

        She said the agency wants to cooperate with area residents as much as possible. But at the same time, its traffic studies and other reviews show only two interchanges are needed.

No outlet: You can't/get there from here
Priest's accuser details his story
City gun lawsuit can go forward
Schools fret over new busing rule
Blue Ash steps up sister city link
College moving ahead as it marks milestone
Flooding on agenda tonight in Anderson
New Fairfield preschool is a collaborative effort
Ohio justice seeks overseer role
Pete Rose to see new Reds park
Police, probation officers to check on convicts together
Tristate A.M. Report
PULFER: Tony Fischer
RADEL: Sleepless knight
Convicted nurse arrested in Mich.
Lebanon nears deal on buying school lot
Man ID'd by database gets prison in rape case
Man who cut off dogs' tails given jail
Bypass controversy
Judge shall not show poster
Nuke-waste routes in Ohio protested
Ohio town firm on tracking solicitors
Shop owner charged with smuggling Honduran artifacts
University of Dayton's 'Brother Ray' retiring
Woman relieved after resolving Social Security bill for $102,000
Appeals court rules for drug-treatment clinic
Bears find home in park
Fire at school won't delay classes
Foal deaths linked to caterpillars
Kentucky News Briefs
Layoffs may signal another slowdown in coal mining
Man's death at mental-health clinic investigated
Regional reserves of blood trickling
Two dropped from school lawsuit