“It’s going to be huge,” Union City Manager John Applegate on Wednesday told members of a county committee weighing requests for Montgomery County ED/GE (Economic Development/Government Equity) grants.
“It’s essentially going to be much larger than any (traffic roundabout) you’ve seen in our community,” said Steve Stanley, executive director of the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District.
When the roundabout was being designed, Applegate said he told traffic engineers: “That isn’t even big enough. I want to take the biggest tractor trailer that’s out there ... and that’s what it’s designed for.”
Applegate said Union committed to the project before Amazon started construction on its 3.1 million-square-foot fulfillment center on Union Airpark, which will employ some 1,500 people.
Already operating in that area are logistics operations for Procter & Gamble, Crocs, Frito-Lay, Legrand North America, Chewy.com and others.
In all, since 2010, more than five million square feet of light manufacturing and distribution space have been built out in an area north of Interstate 70 and U.S. 40, mostly west of the airport, in projects that today employ more than 4,000 people.
“They’re asking, with the amount of trucks and stuff that will be coming in and out, with product the size of a building, what could we do to help enhance the overall road network,” Applegate of Amazon and other companies.
“It has a major impact on the further development of the entire area,” Stanley said.
The roundabout will involve two interior lanes with continuous right-hand turn movements in four directions. It is meant to ease travel along Dog Leg, Old Springfield and Jackson roads, along with Union Airpark. (Jackson as it progresses north becomes Union Airpark.)
In addition, Applegate said Union is already eyeing three new distribution projects for the area, projects that will be unveiled in early 2022.
“They’re committed right now,” he said of those projects.
Municipalities request ED/GE grants on behalf of businesses looking to expand in or move to Montgomery County.
The Dayton Daily News reported last month that a 675,000-square-foot building being built on spec is planned on more than 80 acres near the airport in Union.
Land for the giant building was purchased for $2.2 million north of Old Springfield Road. No end user has been identified, but the building could hold a little more than 11 football fields.
Dan Wendt, city manager of Vandalia, said his city has strategies to deal with growing traffic. Vandalia has received about $1.6 million from the Ohio Department of Transportation to design and engineer improvements on Lightner Road to Dixie to Northwoods Boulevard, to help truck traffic on the north side of the Vandalia.
As development happens, roads must be improved, he said.
“We’re looking at 2027 before it’s done,” Wendt said.
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