Tipp to start final Main Street project

The final piece TIPP CITY — of the long-term Main Street streetscape project will bring new sidewalks and pavement, utility work and other updates to the east end of downtown beginning in May.

The streetscape project began more than 15 years ago further west on Main Street, also Ohio 571, and has been completed from Interstate 75 east through the main portion of downtown.

The final section of work will begin May 3 from First Street east to east of the Great Miami River Bikeway crossing of Main Street, City Manager Tim Eggleston told city council March 15.

A detour will direct traffic across state routes south on Ohio 202, west on Interstate 70 to I-75 north to Exit 68 at Main Street (Ohio 571).

The project is being handled through the Ohio Department of Transportation, which will award the project contract and provide a project manager and inspector. Planning for the project began in 2016.

ODOT is handling this work because several other projects are underway in the city, said Eric Mack, Tipp City’s director of municipal services.

Among those projects are the Abbot Park Way extension, the Kinna Drive Extension south and the Third Street culvert project.

“We are able to utilize ODOT for their construction expertise and inspection services while still being actively involved in the project,” Mack said.

The estimated cost of the project is $1,291,434 with the city receiving federal highway funds for 79 percent of the project cost. The remaining 21 percent, estimated at round $272,000, will be paid by the city.

This phase of the project will mirror the prior phases. Work will include 10-foot sidewalks on the north side and five-foot sidewalks on the south, brick pavers, ornamental street lighting, trees, water main replacement, sanitary sewer slip lining, storm sewer and asphalt resurfacing.

Discussions are planned soon on how the project will fit with work being done on the 1800s Buggy Whip building on the south side of Main Street in the project area.

The project’s biggest piece was in the downtown in 2013 when the street and sidewalks were torn out, underground utilities replaced and the streetscape elements including the wider sidewalks completed. That effort resulted in a major disruption of downtown for several months.

The new streetscape work is expected to be completed by the end of August.