One project residents and motorists will be glad to see come to an end, said Hamilton Director of Engineering Allen Messer, is the Millville Avenue reconstruction project.
Though it won’t require any more complete closures, there will be some lane closures required over the next few weeks as concrete work and the switching of gas and water service lines takes place.
“Everybody will finally be relieved when it’s over,” he said.
The first of the lane restrictions on Millville Avenue, which is also Ohio 129, is between Wrenwood Drive and Smalley Boulevard through April 11.
Once school is out for the summer, Millville Avenue will have its final leg of this year-long project completed with new asphalt. The $6 million project was a complete reconstruction of a portion of 2-plus-mile stretch of Millville Avenue, which required detours to impacted homes and businesses.
Weather permitting should wrap up by the end of this summer.
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Speeding problems on Ross Road should be addressed with an estimated $1.6 million traffic calming project, one of Hamilton’s top safety projects.
“There was a concern about speeding on Ross Avenue,” said Messer. “We were able to secure an ODOT grant to tackle that problem. The solution, as I said before, is something that makes it feel uncomfortable to drive fast.”
The one-way westbound street in the city’s Rossville neighborhood will see a bump out of the sidewalks at each intersection between Urban and South C streets. Messer called this a “permanent solution” that is 90% funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
These bump outs will also make the crosswalks shorter, thus safer, he said.
“You can do a certain amount with enforcement, but that only last as long as you continue the enforcement,” Messer said.
NW Washington Boulevard will go on what’s called a “road diet” this summer.
The city of Hamilton had previously put University Boulevard and Eaton Avenue on road diets, which reducing the number of lanes down to allow for another traffic function.
With University Boulevard, bike lanes were added when the four lanes were reduced two to three. On Eaton Avenue near Flub’s, it also went down from four lanes to three, and making a right-turn lane.
The NW Washington Boulevard road diet will go from Cleveland Avenue to right before the proposed dual roundabout project near the Hamilton Freshman School.
Messer said the inside eastbound lane will turn into a two-way left.
“This will make it a lot easier for people getting in and out of the side streets,” he said. “We heard how difficult it was to make lefts in and out of those areas. This will make that much, much easier, much safer.
The outside westbound lane will become essentially a right-turn lane at Cleveland.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Phase 4 of the multi-phase Hamilton Beltline Recreational Trail project is expected to begin this year and wrapping up next year.
This trail goes along what was once the Hamilton Belt Railway operated within the city from 1898 to 2012 when Champion Mill closed. Phases 1, 2 and 3 were completed in 2021, 2022 and 2024, respectively.
This nearly $1.94 million phase is 100% grand funded through ODOT. This leg will connect the western end of Phase 1 from Eaton Avenue and take it to the Haldimand Avenue/Main Street intersection before crossing Main Street to the north side of Butler County Lumber. Messer said they “had enough grant money” to install a small trailhead at that terminus of Phase 4.
A future phase of the trail is planned to go south from the planned trailhead down to Millville Avenue.
Paving is “one of the top priorities” city officials have heard from residents. The annual concrete repair and resurfacing project will hit parts of nearly a dozen roads this year, and wrap up a list of take on close to the same number of streets from the project that started last year.
The 2024/2025 concrete repair and resurfacing projects to be finished this year has an $4.18 million price tag. The 2025 concrete repair and resurfacing project is estimated to be $5.1 million, and is currently being advertised for bid.
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