But Richard Splawinski, a project manager with the Montgomery County Engineer’s Office, recited some of the key details for members of the council — also known as “TRAC” — in a meeting on the second floor of the Missile Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Since 2012, development has exploded near the airport in northern Montgomery County, as companies as varied as Amazon, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Chewy and others have set up big warehouses near the confluence of interstates 70 and 75.
By 2021, more than five million square feet of space had been developed near the airport, with more than 12,000 jobs created in the area.
“The logistics development is not over, and it’s not even slowing down,” Splawinski said.
The “ring road” concept is not a new one. The idea is to pave the way, literally, for a growing amount of truck traffic to enter and exit the area without going through downtown Vandalia, Splawinski told TRAC members.
Vandalia leaders have welcomed development near the airport, as have other communities, Splawinski said. But he added: “That truck traffic is bothersome.”
In all, roadwork in the $28 million project would ring the area via (going roughly in a clockwise direction), U.S. 40, Union Airpark Boulevard, Old Springfield Road, Peters and Lightner roads and North Dixie Drive.
TRAC typically funds these wide-ranging projects one phase at a time. TRAC has already covered one major engineering portion of the project, about $1.6 million.
The amount requested Wednesday would cover the project’s right-of-way phase, including property acquisition, consulting, tree-clearing, utility relocation, and other work. The request to TRAC is $1.8 million for that portion.
Another $160,000 or so for new engineering services would add to that amount. The total local request reaches about $1.96 million, Splawinski said.
Andy Shahan, also of the county Engineer’s Office, expects a funding decision in December, perhaps January.
He’s generally optimistic funding will be forthcoming.
“Generally speaking, TRAC has been supportive of projects when they come in phases like this,” Shahan said. “When they’re supportive in the first phase, they don’t abandon it.”
Known as the “crossroads of America,” the region’s proximity to the intersection of Interstates 70 and 75 has long been a draw for companies, particularly in the logistics industry, with Caterpillar Inc. and the now-defunct Payless Shoes both locating distribution facilities in Montgomery County before development in the airport area took off with P&G’s 2013 decision to locate its Dayton Mixing Center there.
“You can get anywhere by vehicle or freight within a day’s drive to 60% of the country’s population from I-70 and 75. That is the original business case to why companies want to locate here,” Chris Kershner, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, previously told the Dayton Daily News. “Where we have been good at as a community is leveraging that asset.”
Jeff Lyons, executive vice president of real estate company CBRE called Dayton “logistically the best-situated market in the Midwest.”
“There is abundant labor up and down I-75, which is attractive to companies in the area,” said Lyons, whose firm is handling a large spec building owned by Houston-based Pinchal & Co. in Vandalia’s Stonequarry Crossings industrial park.
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