HOW MUCH TRAFFIC?
Union Centre Boulevard interchange: Average daily traffic totals
From Muhlhauser Road to southband Interstate 75 exit/entrance ramps
2002: 43,980 vehicles per day
2010: 46,550 vpd
2012: 49,000 vpd
From I-75’s northound exit/entrance ramps and east
2002:13,600 vehicles per day
2010: 20,940 vpd
2012: 20,000 vpd
SOURCE: Butler County Engineer’s Office
HOW TO GO
WHAT: The Butler County Engineer's Office will discuss possible improvements to alleviate traffic at the Union Centre Boulevard interchange. While open to the public, the meeting won't solicit public input.
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1
WHERE: 9113 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, West Chester Twp.
Changes may be made to one of Butler County’s busiest highway interchanges to better handle the tens of thousands of motorists each day looking to work, shop or dine.
Sarah Tenhundfeld, who works west of the Union Centre Boulevard interchange, describes the traffic there as “hideous.”
“(Getting off at Union Centre Boulevard in the morning) it’ll back up … one to two miles. You’ll be sitting in traffic just for the line to get to that light to turn right or left,” she said. “Leaving work, it can take 10 to 15 minutes just to get onto the highway.”
Traffic along Union Centre Boulevard from Muhlhauser Road to Interstate 75 has increased 11.4 percent, going from 26,180 vehicles per day in 2004 to 49,000 in 2012, according to Butler County Engineer’s Office traffic counts. Traffic east of the northbound exit/entrance ramps numbers jumped 47 percent between 2002 and 2012, going from 13,600 vehicles per day to 20,000.
New traffic counts were carried out this year, but that information is yet to be recorded, said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the engineer’s office.
An interchange operation study was commissioned because additional growth on the east side of the interchange, including TopGolf, Main Event and Bass Pro Shops at The Streets of West Chester, may drive the need to address increased traffic volumes on Union Centre Boulevard, he said.
Township officials have invited the Butler County Engineer’s Office to discuss possible improvements to alleviate traffic at the Union Centre Boulevard interchange, including possible modification to the ramps there.
Scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, that meeting will immediately precede the regularly scheduled 6 p.m. board of trustees meeting.
While open to the public, the meeting won't solicit public input like a recent workshop on changes to Cincinnati-Dayton Road because there isn't yet an official Union Centre Boulevard project, Petrocy said.
“We are merely considering ideas to improve the interchange,” he said.
Tenhundfeld said that’s “great” news.
“Any effort to improve would be appreciated,” she said.
The county is spending about $41,560 on the preliminary engineering study for Union Centre, according to BCEO officials.
Local, state and federal funds will be needed to cover the cost of the project, which likely will run between $5 million and $6 million and start in 2017, officials said.
With its inception, the Union Centre Boulevard interchange has been instrumental in the economic vitality of the Greater Cincinnati region, attracting and retaining “significant corporate investment” and positioning West Chester as the epicenter of the Cincinnati-Dayton metroplex, according to Judi Boyko, the township’s administrator.
“While Union Centre already has a premier reputation, West Chester has and will always be committed to infrastructure improvements, ensuring our corporate investment can remain marketable and sustainable … with the hope that they will continue to re-invest in our community,” Boyko said.
The interchange and its surrounding area have been the site of several improvement projects in the past decade.
BCEO implemented improvements to the intersection of Union Centre Boulevard and Muhlhauser Road in 2007, Petrocy said.
In 2009, lanes were added to Union Centre Boulevard from West Chester Road to I-75, including extending turn lanes from eastbound Union Centre Boulevard to the southbound I-75 ramp and from the southbound exit ramp to westbound Union Centre Boulevard, he said.
Ohio Department of Transportation added lanes to both exit ramps several years ago, Petrocy said.
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