The project will address the truck traffic turning into Seward Road from Ohio 4, increasing the road’s capacity to accommodate the turning radius. Seward Road has seen an increase in light industrial and light manufacturing, especially with the development of Fairfield Commerce Park, which the developer is building its fifth speculative building since 2020. The business park alone represents nearly 1.4 million square feet of new light manufacturing and e-commerce space.
Public Works Director Ben Mann said the city purchased property at the corner of Ohio 4 and Seward Road that gives them some additional right-of-way, and now “we’re able to make a more appropriate turn for the trucks.”
Mann said they’ve applied for this Ohio Department of Transportation grant previously but had been unsuccessful, so they increased their local match to make it more attractive to be awarded the competitive ODOT Safety Grant.
“It doesn’t score great,” Mann said, mainly because the accidents are congestion-related. “We were going to put in a slightly bigger match the city would commit to make it more attractive, a 30% match to make it more attractive. There’s a lot of people applying for that safety grant.”
Since 2019, there have been 67 crashes at the intersection, with almost a third being injury-related. Of the accidents, the majority were either a failure to yield or being rear-ended. Additionally, sideswipe accidents and angled crashes were above the statewide averages at this intersection.
If approved, the funding will be 90% of the eligible costs, and the city’s portion will be about $460,000 (which includes a contingency cost) of the $2.6 million project, which includes engineering, construction, and right-of-way acquisition costs. If awarded, the project’s engineering would start in 2024, any additional right-of-way needed would be purchased in 2026, and construction could start as early as 2027.
Mann said the city is also exploring other funding opportunities, given the competitiveness of the ODOT safety grant.
This project would also include adding a sidewalk and crosswalk improvements. Mann said there are several hotels near this intersection.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic from those hotels that we’d like to add a sidewalk at that intersection so they can safely cross the road (to the restaurants),” he said.
The repaving project on Ohio 4, to the south of the Seward Road intersection to the Interstate-275 on-ramp, has completed the first of two courses of asphalt. The road has been milled, and an intermediate asphalt layer has been completed. A top layer of asphalt will be applied, and the project will finish within a week or two. This project is being done in conjunction with Springdale, as it exceeds the city’s southern border.
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