WORK TO REDUCE TRAFFIC ON AUSTIN
Work is part of a larger $1.3M project on south side of Austin Landing.
MIAMI TWP., MONTGOMERY
Contractors are adding COUNTY — a second right-turn lane onto Interstate 75 from westbound Austin Boulevard as part of a larger $1.3 million project on the south side of the Austin Landing development.
Traffic onto the northbound I-75 ramp, where motorists are now expected to yield, will be controlled by a traffic signal, according to Mandi Dillon, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).
“This will be accomplished BY reallocating use of the existing lanes and adding additional pavement between Austin Landing Boulevard and the ramp,” District Construction Engineer Scott LeBlanc said in an email.
The lane “assignments” on westbound Austin Boulevard will also be shifted on both sides of the intersection into Austin Landing, Dillon added.
“This project has been in planning works by ODOT for quite some time,” Cheryl Dillin, a spokesperson for VisCap, the company now managing development on both sides of Austin Boulevard.
In addition, on Ohio 741, the road will be re-striped to include dual left-turn lanes for northbound traffic turning left onto Austin Boulevard, Dillon said in an email. The dual left-turn lanes will lead from Ohio 741 onto westbound Austin with signs directing motorists to north- and southbond I-75.
The project is expected to cost $1.3 million and be completed in November.
“We are supportive of these efforts to reduce congestion on Austin Boulevard,” Dillin said.
During construction, people using the path leading out of Austin Landing and across I-75 are being detoured across Austin Boulevard, where a sidewalk leads into Springboro and across the interstate, according to a map provided by ODOT.
When work is completed, path users will stay on the north side of Austin Boulevard and cross the lanes onto I-75 to reach the interstate bridge to Miamisburg.
“The real need on the ramp from Austin to I-75 Northbound is to maintain two lanes all the way to I-75,” Lynn Johnson, a Springboro resident who frequents the intersection, said in an email.
The project has been five years in the making.
RG Properties is still developing Austin Landing and the 60 acres on the south side of the street, now known as Austin South Springboro.
ODOT has made $1.8 million in improvements at the Ohio 741-Austin Boulevard intersection to alleviate gridlock experienced at peak traffic periods since the interchange opened in 2010.