CENTERVILLE — Dozens of people interested in improving the flow of vehicle traffic and safety turned out Thursday night to offer their input about the I-675 and Wilmington Pike interchange, an improvement project that could turn out in any one of three ways, according to project planners.
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The planners -- Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District, Sugarcreek Twp., Greene County Engineer’s Office, city of Centerville and the Ohio Department of Transportation Districts 7 and 8 -- have partnered to study the interchange.
Those planners have identified three key contributing factors to the increased traffic and congestion that are contributing to travel delays and more crashes:
* Congestion along Wilmington Pike, including the I-675 interchange as well as the Wilmington Pike-Feedwire Road and Wilmington Pike-Clyo Road intersections
* Traffic leaving I-675 South onto Wilmington Pike extends onto the highway during evening rush hour
* Traffic congestion and backups on the interstate contribute to elevated crash rates in the project area.
Those factors have led the planners to develop these three improvement alternatives:
* Upgrade the existing interchange by adding lanes to Wilmington Pike, Brown Road, Feedwire Road and I-675 ramps; widening the Feedwire Road bridge over I-675, widening the bridge over Wilmington Pike to 12 lanes
* Convert the existing interchange to a Diverging Diamond Interchange that would include the improvements made to the existing intervchange
* Create a split interchange, which would mean relocating a portion of Clyo Road and the installation of a local access road along I-675
“Of the ideas they presented, I think widening the roads look like the most reasonable one,” Sara Gilson of Centerville told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis.
The alternatives cost roughly $70 million to $82 million, according to the planners. Funding could come from a variety of federal and state sources and project partners.
Crystal Corbin, executive director, Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District, said, “We are at the very early planning stages within this process. . . . Part of this session, is to really invite the public in, have them provide their public feedback and let us know, what they what their pain points are.”
Construction on the project could be years away, planners have said.
But that doesn’t bother Anne Wolf of Centerville, who was among those who came out to Sinclair Community College’s Centerville campus for the open house.
“I liked the idea that they’re thinking about improving this as time goes on,” she said.
Planners said they hope to decide on one of the alternatives by fall.
If you were unable to attend Thursday night’s open house, you are encouraged to submit comments via phone, email or snail mail to Crystal Corbin, Executive Director, MCTID, ccorbin@mctid.org, 614-530-0884; or to the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District, 451 W. Third St., 10th Floor, Dayton, OH 45422-1075.
Reference MOT/GRE-I-675/Wilmington Pike PID 115160 in emails and letters.
Comments on the proposed alternatives should be submitted by Aug. 18, 2023.