By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
Officials from Franklin County Engineer Cornell Robertson’s office are looking into proposed intersection improvements at Rohr Road and Alum Creek Drive and Rohr Road at State Route 317.
A public meeting was held July 12 at Madison Christian Church to discuss the projects.
“The improvements to both intersections will consist of adding additional turn lanes to the existing lane configurations,” said Ted Beidler, Franklin County projects engineer. “The east leg of the Alum Creek at Rohr project will extend all the way down to Port Road.”
When asked why the improvements would be made, Beidler said, “Increased traffic at both locations have resulted in congestion-causing delays for motorists. These delays have resulted in a relatively high number of accidents at both locations as users make rash decisions out of frustration.”
According to Beidler, the current estimate is $3 million for the Alum Creek at Rohr Road intersection and $1.5 million for Rohr Road at State Route 317. Both projects are contingent upon Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) funding. Funding applications will be submitted in September with decisions by OPWC on which projects to fund being made in December.
“We haven’t finalized our funding requests, but I would estimate that the requests will be approximately 65 percent OPWC funding and 35 percent Franklin County Engineer funding,” said Beidler. “Of the 35 percent Franklin County share, possibly 10 percent of that amount could come from various, local developer commitments to the improvements.”
Beidler said that, if the funding applications are successful, the Alum Creek at Rohr improvements would be constructed in 2019 and Rohr Road at State Route 317 in 2020.
He said no detours are currently planned for the projects, but a final decision on that will have to await the final engineering design.
