Fairfield, Butler advance Symmes overpass project

City to spend $750K in 1st phase of railroad crossing elimination.

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield City Council formalized an intergovernmental agreement Monday that officials hope will lead to the elimination of an at-grade railroad crossing on Symmes Road.

The agreement with the Butler County Transportation Improvement District allows the county agency to formally act on the city’s behalf for the Symmes Road Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Project. This agreement comes after the county TID last year received $3 million in grant funds for Fairfield through an inaugural Federal Railroad Administration RCE program.

The grant is 80% of the initial phase of work for the Symmes Road project, which is less than a mile west of Ohio 4 in the northern part of the city. The grant money will help pay for the engineering and development plans to build the overpass and close the crossing on North Gilmore Road, making the section of road south of Symmes Road into a dual no-outlet road.

The city’s match will be $750,000 of the $3.75 million initial phase.

Butler County TID in December requested the FRA give preaward authority for the Fairfield project so it can complete planning and project development, such as preliminary engineering, administration work (like scheduling and budgeting), an environmental review, and a feasibility study on North Gilmore Road.

The FRA’s RCE grant program has awarded more than $570 million for 63 projects addressing hundreds of at-grade crossings in 32 states, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Fairfield was one of only two Ohio cities to receive this funding in its inaugural round.

The Symmes Road Grade Separation Project is similar to what the city of Hamilton did in 2018 with the South Hamilton Crossing. That overpass eliminated an at-grade crossing to allow traffic to get to and from Ohio 4