Hamilton County-based Rack and Ballaur was awarded the contract to reconstruct the road from Hamilton Enterprise Park Drive to Gateway Avenue for just more than $4 million.
“This project will be phased to allow complete closure of Tylersville while they reconstruct the road and provide a small widening,” said Hamilton Director of Engineering Rich Engle, adding they’ll coordinate with area businesses and residents for accessibility.
The plan is to begin the project on March 1, and start at Hamilton Enterprise Park and work east toward Gateway Avenue. The first segment they’ll work on will have a complete closure from Hamilton Enterprise through to just west of Gilmore Road. Phase 2 will be from Gilmore Road to Gateway Avenue.
The project, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of October, will reconstruct the road to a higher design standard as Engle previously said it’s “in terrible shape” and has been in that condition for several years. The only solution is to tear it up and rebuild it with proper sections of base and asphalt pavement.
The reconstruction will be a 1.2-mile stretch, from Hamilton Enterprise Park Drive to about a quarter-mile from the bypass at Gateway Avenue. The work is primarily for the anticipated growth expected along Hamilton Enterprise Park Drive, which is home to some big-name Hamilton companies, like 80 Acres, VinylMax, Synergy Flavors and corrugated packaging manufacturer Saica.
There are multiple funding sources for the project, including $846,000 from the Street Levy fund and more than $2.2 million from the city’s Infrastructure Renewal fund, which is used for resurfacing and other projects, like bridges.
This isn’t the only big-dollar road construction project beginning this year.
Sunesis Construction was awarded a $2 million-plus contract to rehabilitate the Bilstein bridge that will start this spring and wrap up in December.
Sunesis Construction was the general contractor for the Main-Millville-Eaton intersection project a few years ago, as well as the Main-Cereal-Haldiman intersection project.
The project cost is higher than the engineer’s estimate, but Engle said they were fortunate the Ohio Department of Transportation increased its grant from $655,500 to $2 million, which is the cap for these bridge rehabilitation projects.
“Our share will be increased somewhat, but not as substantial as it could have been,” he said.
Bilstein Boulevard will be closed at the bridge from both directions ― the Fairfield and Hamilton sides of the bridge.
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