A $8.5 million project along one of Hamilton’s main corridors is on schedule and when completed will improve traffic flow and help drive jobs and capital investment to Hamilton, according to city officials.

Construction crews are currently relocating underground utilities on various streets along the East High Street Gateway Project, which is an important entrance into Hamilton for those coming from Interstate 75, city officials said. Nearly 40,000 cars pass through the East High Street corridor, which some business leaders say leaves a less than positive image to visitors coming into the city.

“Area CEOs indicated this was a priority project to help drive jobs and capital investment to Hamilton,” said City Manager Joshua Smith. “This project should not only catalyze that corridor, but also our urban core and contiguous historic neighborhoods.”

The $8.5 million project, between Ohio 4/Erie Boulevard and east of Sixth Street, is scheduled for completion in 2014, according to Rich Engle, city public works director and city engineer.

In addition, the intersection of East High Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard will be improved at an additional cost of $2.7 million, of which $2.5 million has already been awarded in an Ohio Department of Transportation traffic safety grant. That part of the project is slated to be completed in 2015.

The city is also evaluating if Dayton Street and Maple Avenue will be able to absorb some of the traffic flow, as well as installing intelligent signage to provide advance information to motorists about trains passing through and possible blockage of the at-grade crossings.

To pay for the project, the city borrowed an estimated $3.5 million from the utilities capital fund that will be paid back over 10 years, according to city officials.

Work started on the East High Street Gateway Project in early November, Engle said, and that work has been completed on Ninth Street, between East High and Maple streets, where a 24-inch water main has been installed across East High Street and is ready to be pressure tested.

Work started this week on Seventh Street as crews continue to relocate underground utilities, Engle said in a report to Smith on Monday.

Eventually, the current overhead cable, phone and electric lines will move underground as well as replacing or upgrading water and gas mains and sanitary sewer and storm sewer lines, in an effort to improve the aesthetics of East High Street, city officials have said.

The project will also include streetscaping, lowering the pavement profile, rehabilitating East Avenue and Seventh Street, installing traffic medians, adding a right turn lane to eastbound High Street at Erie Highway/Ohio 4, and adding a second left turn lane to westbound High Street at Erie Highway/Ohio 4.

Restricting left-turn movements (on East High Street) will also help with traffic flow, Smith said.

The city will soon sign a $285,000 consulting agreement with Jacobs Engineering of Cincinnati to begin designing the streetscaping, the street medians and the commercial access drive to be constructed between Seventh Street and East Avenue, according to Engle. The agreement also includes about $25,000 in contingency fees that could be used if necessary, he said.

The city’s negotiator is still working with property owners on East High Street to purchase land that will be needed to improve traffic movement in the corridor and to provide a new access drive for businesses, Engle said.