Last month of I-75 project to cause major tie-ups

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WEST CARROLLTON — The new $26 million interchange to Interstate 75 will be completed in October and should spur much-sought economic investment and industrial redevelopment, officials said, but not before creating the most significant traffic problems stemming from the project.

“The next two to three months are going to be the worst part of this project,” West Carrollton Mayor Jeff Sanner said Tuesday.

The reconfigured I-75/Central Avenue/South Dixie Drive interchange will likely see daily traffic of up to 100,000 vehicles and make this hard-hit industrial area far more marketable, officials said.

The interchange will have four direct ramps and replace a convoluted, circular road layout with required side street travel.

Chris Kershner, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce’s vice president for public policy and economic development, helped West Carrollton lobby for the interchange funding.

“This is critical to the redevelopment and reindustrialization of the surrounding area, especially as it’s related to the former (General Motors Corp.) Truck and Bus site and its huge infrastructure,” Kershner said.

“It’s critical to get those products and goods where they have to go,” Kershner said.

“When you improve access and mobility, it improves economic development,” said Jerry Wray, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, on Tuesday.

Moraine lost 10,000 employees in the past decade and has more than 1 million square feet of vacant industrial space. The recent announcement from Appleton Paper in West Carrollton that 330 employees would lose their jobs this spring was another blow.

Wray toured a UPS Facility at 209 S. Alex Road, West Carrollton, to highlight the interchange and also the 2012 construction season’s $1.8 billion in ODOT projects statewide.

Jeff Soule of UPS said 97 drivers dispatched from the facility will each save up to 10 minutes per day and 60 gallons of gasoline by using the new interchange.

Bill Covell, the city’s economic development director, said the interchange is crucial to rebuilding the city’s industrial strength. “All these companies are dependent on trucks,” he said.

Once the interchange opens, the city plans to move forward with plans for Miami Bend, a $70 million entertainment district, possibly anchored by a 4,000-seat arena-event center. West Carrollton also is planning a whitewater park just south of the bend in the Great Miami River as it passes the city near Exit 47. This is part of a river corridor envisioned from Sidney to Dayton to West Carrollton to Miamisburg to Hamilton, parlaying the draws of the river and bike paths with centers attracting people to community riverfront.

“People, give us two or three months. I think they’re going to be pleased with the outcome,” Sanner said.

Hispanic-fusion restaurant El Meson is bracing for the final months of construction. Since construction began last year, the restaurant has struggled to draw customers. Before it gets better, El Meson and local officials anticipate increasing difficulties for people trying to enter and exit West Carrollton. The restaurant’s owners have already invested in advertising and adjusted staffing.