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Grant could fund Villa Road widening

Project would add a turn lane between Derr Road and Red Coach Drive.

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By Mark McGregor, Staff Writer 10:26 PM Tuesday, January 31, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — A nearly $2 million federal transportation grant could widen a half-mile stretch of Villa Road and add a center turn lane.

The improvements are intended to ease congestion on the two-lane road, which has seen a 45-percent increase in traffic.

The Federal Highway Administration grant is administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation and passed through the Clark County Transportation Coordinating Committee.

The money would allow the city to widen Villa between Derr Road and Red Coach Drive, according to the agreement, if accepted by city commission.

Engineers decided to widen the road after they concluded a center turn lane would ease congestion and decrease accidents at the apartment complex driveways along that stretch, City Engineer Leo Shanayda said.

He cited a fall 2011 study that found about 6,600 vehicles travel over that stretch every day.

By comparison, 2009 traffic volume data from the TCC indicates nearly 4,500 traveled on Villa Road at the east side of the Red Coach Drive intersection.

No data was available for Villa Road traffic west of the Derr Road intersection.

“What we noticed with the study is we have a lot of people coming (south on) Derr Road and making a right on Villa and making a left on Red Coach to get onto Limestone or continue straight along Roscommon Drive,” Shanayda said.

According to the funding agreement, funds can be applied to design, right-of-way acquisitions and construction associated with the project.

City engineers have not begun the design phase and have not determined if rights-of-way will need to be purchased to complete the project, Shanayda said.

The project could cost more or less than the grant. But if it costs more, the city would request additional funding, Shanayda said.

The design phase would begin within the next couple of months, and the project is expected to begin in 2015.

Widening from Red Coach Drive west to Urbana Road was ruled out because of a lower volume of traffic, wider roads with curb and gutter in front of homes and because there aren’t as many people turning left and right from private driveways, Shanayda said.

About 5,200 vehicles per day travel Villa Road between Red Coach Drive and Urbana Road, Shanayda said.

City Commission is expected to vote on the measure Feb. 14.

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