“This has many benefits, not the least of which is relieving congestion … It’s to incentivize folks to park at Chestnut and come to town or the university on our buses,” said Carla Lakatos, the executive director of the BCRTA.
Called “Butler County Connect,” the $26 million project “will provide ladders of opportunity to residents of distressed communities in Butler County” by connecting the eastern part of the county to Oxford and Miami University,. the county’s largest employer, according to the grant application.
Miami University is charged with coming up with the matching funds for the grant at $5.2 million, which will come from the university’s capital renewal and replacement funds,” said Cody Powell, Miami’s vice president of facilities planning and operations.
The overarching goal is to “enhance access to jobs and education, especially for residents of the economically disadvantaged Eastern Butler County, as well as to ease traffic congestion, increase environmental sustainability and enhance community safety,” states the grant’s executive summary.
Oxford is known for not being easy to get to, with no interstate access. Compounding that problem is a “driving culture that exists, in part, because of the lack of affordable, efficient, and convenient transportation alternatives to personal vehicles,” according to the grant request.
The application also notes that, including Miami students, Oxford has 25,000 people in seven square miles, making for a population density of 3,150 people per square mile — more than Cincinnati at 1,750 people per square mile, and Dayton, with 2,060 people per square mile.
BCRTA already serves Oxford with eight local bus routes and two regional bus routes. The Shriver Center station will include a bus transit shelter, a below-ground structure with 300 parking spaces and a hub for bicycle storage, repair and rental.
The Chestnut Street Regional Transit Depot and Parking Hub will support BCRTA and Talawanda School District operations. This part of the project includes 827 parking spaces, 241 of which would be funded by the grant. That will serve as a pick-up point to take travelers to campus and to Oxford. There will also be a storage place for BCRTA buses and a bus wash/maintenance yard that would serve both BCRTA, Talawanda and Miami vehicles.
The Chestnut Street facility is also designed to improve public safety. It would intercept traffic from the south and west, keeping vehicles out of the campus core. The Shriver Center Intermodal Transit Station,would be accessed from Patterson Avenue/US 27, south of East Spring Street.
“This entrance location is critical because it allows vehicles traveling north on US 27, from the direction of Cincinnati, to enter the garage before encountering the dangerous offset intersection at East Spring Street and Ohio 73,” states the grant application.
Eight pedestrians were struck by cars at the offset intersection of Ohio 73, East Spring Street, and Patterson Avenue/US 27 between 2010 and 2013. According to Oxford Police and Miami University Police, there were an additional 55 accidents that did not involve pedestrians during this same period.
“At the Shriver Center now, the buses just stop on the street. This (station) will provided a nice, safe place for those waiting for the buses … the garage will be a benefit for many, and we want to turn the Shriver Center into a welcome center for us and give folks a common place to park,” Powell said.
Miami also hopes the project spurs more eastern Butler County residents to apply for some of Miami’s entry level jobs. Miami has 9,800 employees, with more than 500 of those being entry level, according to the grant application.
The grant being applied for is known as a TIGER grant — Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery — administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation, The one Ohio project funded by a TIGER grant last year was the East 105th/East 93rd Transportation Corridor program in the Cleveland area for $400,000. Indianapolis received a $2 million Tiger grant for Indianapolis Red Line Planning Studies, a rapid transit bus system.
The parties involved had applied for this grant in 2014. Although it was not approved for funding, officials encouraged Miami and its partners to try again during another round of funding. Powell said.
Oxford had considered using the TIGER grant for the proposed Oxford Amtrak station, but that is no longer on the table, said City Manager Doug Elliott. That project, while not yet approved, is under way, with the city studying several potential sites for that stop on Amtrak’s Cardinal line from Chicago to New York.
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