Projects could booast airport-are growth
Road improvements proposed as more businesses eye region.
The growth of busiDAYTON — nesses located around Dayton International Airport is going to be spurred by two efforts one
— that could bring up to nearly 400 new jobs and another that would seek a $10 million improvement of roads.
The Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District (TID) has submitted a proposal to lobby for more than $9.1 million in federal and state funds to improve U.S. 40 and Airport Access Road to accommodate traffic through that area.
The road work would support an increasingly busy area that is home to warehouses, sorting hubs and other facilities for companies such as Procter & Gamble, Spectrum Brands, White Castle, Chewy Inc., Purina and others.
Nearly all of the companies draw plenty of truck traffic.
“We are having a fair amount of success across the board — multiple jurisdictions are involved — in attracting new business to the region,” Steve Stanley, executive director of the TID, said Tuesday.
But more jobs are possible for the area around the airport. Two possible investments — referred to at this stage only as code-named projects — involve companies whose are interested in locating in the area but have not yet been publicly revealed. They are “project Cayman,” which would create an estimated 130 jobs, and “project Nora,” which is projected to create 200 to 250 new jobs, according to the TID’s application to the Dayton Development Coalition.
“We have a lot of additional prospects there,” Stanley said. “We want to have the infrastructure keep pace with the opportunity.”
TID officials have worked on the engineering for the road improvements for several years. The work would improve the interchange
of Airport Access Road and U.S. 40/National Road, then widen National Road west of that interchange to five lanes.
“I do think it’s an important project for the entire area,” Stanley said.
The concept appears on the coalition-guided annual wish list of projects that guides local lobbying efforts for state and federal assistance.
Improving the intersection of Airport Access Road and U.S. 40 would help protect some 1,000 distribution jobs short-term, many of which are already in place in the area, according to the TID’s project application.
Construction has not been funded yet. Stanley said he hopes to put in a request for funds before the Ohio Department of Transporta- tion next year.
If all goes well, construc- tion could start as early as 2020, he said.
Improving “infrastructure along U.S. 40 and the interchange at the Airport Access Road and U.S. 40 ... will improve access to the industrial facilities that have recently located in this area by correcting design and safety deficiencies along U.S. 40 between Union Air- park Boulevard and Peters Pike and by improving the function of the intersection of Airport Access Road and U.S. 40,” a project description says in the application.
The cost of the proposed road work is more than $10.4 million.
Rich Hopkins, spokesman for the city Vandalia, said “project Cayman” and “proj- ect Nora” are both city of Dayton projects that could bring new business to the areas of North Dixie Drive and Old Springfield Road near the northeast corner of the airport.
Vandalia traffic will be impacted because of the projects, Hopkins said.
Neither Hopkins nor Stan- ley could talk about the companies behind the code- named projects.
A message seeking comment was sent to Ford Weber, city of Dayton development director, and Toni Bankston, a spokeswoman for Dayton city government.
The Dayton Region Priority Development & Advocacy Committee (PDAC) will consider the applications to the coalition’s lobbying efforts, finalizing a list of needs and planning to approach pol- icy-makers with one com- munity voice.