“Like many infrastructure projects regionally and nationwide, Woodman Phase 1′s estimated costs have increased due to inflation,” Rauch said in an email. “The latest cost estimate we received is $6.4 million, up from about $3.4 million in earlier estimates.”
Riverside is seeking more funding, he said, “from a variety of sources” that include:
•$1.8 million from the Ohio Department of Transportation;
•$1.05 million from the MVRPC.
To get that MVRPC grant, the city would have to chip in 21% of the total, a $221,123 amount, Riverside Service Director Kathy Bartlett said in a memo.
Plans for the final leg of the four-part project end at Springfield Street near the Air Force museum, where the road — also known as Ohio 835 in certain sections — is called Harshman.
That area is now under construction to repair a center barrier wall separating traffic in an area that averages more than 20,000 vehicles a day.
Phase I of the Woodman project includes U.S. 35 to Eastman Avenue, near Spinning Hills Middle School, according to the city. This work now scheduled to occur in 2025-26 would reconstruct the road to include a bikeway on the west side and a sidewalk on the east side, records show.
Improvements to the Woodman/U.S. 35 interchange are scheduled to begin next year, according to Riverside and ODOT documents.
That work, estimated at $9.8 million, would help relieve congestion and bring the roadway and bridges up to current standards, city records show.
“Due to funding constraints, ODOT has concluded that a tight urban diamond interchange is a more practical design than the originally proposed single-point urban interchange,” according to the state’s website.
The project is being funded with federal and Ohio Public Works Commission grants, records show.
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