US 35 Greene County Study
Orchard Lane & Alpha Road
Holy Cow, MVRPC and ODOT actually had the guts to recommend building Alternative 2 (new US 35 overpass over Orchard). I honestly thought they didn't have it in them because of what would happen to traffic on 35.
The only other thing I notice is that two of the businesses that use this intersection (Grub Steak II and Wickes Lumber) are listed as being out of business. This makes the economic dislocation I talked about last time less than I feared, but still a matter of concern for both convenience stores, the motel, the furniture place, the auto shop, Tractor Supply Company, and all three car dealerships.
Given the lack of frontage roads to the south of US 35, this project will have to be a delicately-choreographed operation. I can't see it happening without the use of Heller Drive to replace the traffic lanes which will be lost during construction. This means that cutting off access to Alpha Road must be the drop-dead last thing that happens as part of this project.
Of course, all these points assume that it will ever get built. During the March meeting, the Orchard Lane project provoked the most spirited reactions among attendees -- almost all of which was negative. The most complaints seemed to concern emergency vehicle access to the Soccer Fields, which might be an issue if you were dependent on your emergency responders coming all the way from Xenia instead of the fire station at DXR and Orchard less than a mile away. Next most popular complaint concerned impact on existing businesses. One rather exictable individual apparently left the March meeting vowing to stop any project at Orchard Lane in court. The only thing that attendees and officials seemed to agree on was that there should be no direct access from US 35 into the Alpha Historical District.
The hits kept on coming during the June meeting. The owner of a local auto dealer sent a letter which expressed his concerns about the Orchard Lane proposal. In short:
- No Economic Impact Has Been Considered For This Project. This is simply code for saying that his needs outweigh those of people stuck every night waiting for the lights along US 35 to let them through. Over the past few meetings, I have gotten the impression that MVRPC and ODOT have been all but bending over backwards to try and provide access to the affected businesses. They could have easily saved Ohio taxpayers about $7 million and just taken out the Orchard Lane intersection if they really didn't care about economic impact.
- All Alternatives Would Devastate Nearby Businesses. While this is believable for the convenience stores, I have a hard time believing any of the auto dealerships would be significantly affected by grade-separating US 35 and Orchard Lane. The customer base is completely different. Most people don't look at a car dealership along a major highway, decide on a whim that they need a new car, and pull in. One need only look at the dealerships along Loop Road in Centerville to see successful auto dealers next to a major interstate yet without quick access to it. In cases where businesses would be devastated by the overpasses (such as the convenience stores), it might be in their best interest to negotiate a buy-out with ODOT so they can be relocated to the Factory Road interchange. The dealer acts so much like this is an insurmountable problem when it isn't.
- All Alternatives Would Interfere With Property Rights. How? The elevation of US 35 over Orchard Lane takes place on existing right of way already owned by the State of Ohio, so I don't think that's what he means. If instead he is referring to the ability to get to the affected properties, here's a news flash: People can still reach the affected properties. Oh, you're upset because they can't reach them directly off of US 35? Well, let's see... This hasn't been a problem with over 40,000 miles of interstate highway nationwide for, oh, about 50 years or so, so why is it suddenly a problem in eastern Beavercreek Township?
- Believes In Other Solutions To Solve The Traffic Problem. That's nice. Would you bother telling us what you think those solutions might be? I thought not. Boys and girls, that's called grandstanding. It would be interesting to see if he attempts to run for city or county office on opposition to a US 35 upgrade in the next few years. He certainly wouldn't get votes from anyone trapped in the nightly eastbound traffic jam -- which on bad days extends almost all the way back to North Fairfield Road.