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Lakota West Drive re-opened Friday after being closed as crews replaced culvert. The road wasn’t expected to re-open until April 15.

Meanwhile, close to the West Chester and Fairfield border, construction is expected to begin in May to add a lane and make other improvements to Seward Road between Port Union and Symmes roads.

It is touted as a project that will draw or keep businesses in the city’s industrial corridor.

“A large part of this is driven by economic development,’’ said Art Pizzano, Fairfield’s city manager.

He pointed to Western States, which is building a 76,000 square foot plant on Commerce Center Drive, the expansion of Takumi Stamping, and the move by IntelliTrak from Forest Park to Seward Road, announced last fall.

The project involves widening shoulders, adding a center turn lane, repairing the road’s base and resurfacing of the road. When completed, the road would have three, 12-foot wide lanes with four-foot shoulders to handle the heavy truck and commuter traffic.

The road will close to all but local traffic beginning June 3, through most of the summer. Local traffic will be maintained by limiting it to the northbound direction only.

The work will be done by Mount Pleasant Blacktopping at a cost of about $1.6 million. Money to pay for the project is coming from a $150,430 Community Development Block Grant, a $680,000 Ohio Public Works Commission Grant with the final $769,570 coming from the city’s street improvement fund.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Lakota Drive West, Lakota Drive West closure

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

A road improvement project begun last year will close Liberty-Fairfield Road for one month beginning Monday.

The road will be closed to through traffic between Logsdon’s Woods Drive and Princeton Road on the border between Liberty and Fairfield townships. Local access will be maintained only for residents, businesses, school buses and emergency vehicles.

The road is being closed so that existing lanes can be widened from 10 to 12 feet along with adding two-foot paved shoulders and a two-foot earth berm. Affected driveways will be reconstructed and drainage will be improved as part of the project.

A small bridge was replaced before construction stopped last winter with the onset of winter. Weather permitting, the project should be completed in early May, with the road reopening tentatively set for the week of April 29.

The small bridge located between Maple Crest Drive and Weathered Oaks Drive/Stone Creek Drive will be completely closed.

During the closing northbound Liberty-Fairfield Road traffic will detour east on Hamilton-Mason Road, north on Ohio 747 and west on Princeton Road. Southbound traffic would reverse the route.

For more information on local road closures, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Liberty-Fairfield Road

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Lakota West Drive will close for nearly two weeks near Lakota West High School beginning Thursday.

The road will close 800 feet east of Union Centre Boulevard and 1,700 feet west of Eagleridge so that crews can replace a culvert. The road is tentatively set to reopen the week of April 15.

Eastbound Lakota Drive West traffic will detour south on Union Centre and east on West Chester Road. Westbound traffic would reverse the route.

Meanwhile, close to the West Chester and Fairfield border, construction is expected to begin in May to add a lane and make other improvements to Seward Road between Port Union and Symmes roads.

It is touted as a project that will draw or keep businesses in the city’s industrial corridor.

“A large part of this is driven by economic development,’’ said Art Pizzano, Fairfield’s city manager.

He pointed to Western States, which is building a 76,000 square foot plant on Commerce Center Drive, the expansion of Takumi Stamping, and the move by IntelliTrak from Forest Park to Seward Road, announced last fall.

The project involves widening shoulders, adding a center turn lane, repairing the road’s base and resurfacing of the road. When completed, the road would have three, 12-foot wide lanes with four-foot shoulders to handle the heavy truck and commuter traffic.

The road will close to all but local traffic beginning June 3, through most of the summer. Local traffic will be maintained by limiting it to the northbound direction only.

The work will be done by Mount Pleasant Blacktopping at a cost of about $1.6 million. Money to pay for the project is coming from a $150,430 Community Development Block Grant, a $680,000 Ohio Public Works Commission Grant with the final $769,570 coming from the city’s street improvement fund.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Lakota Drive West, Lakota Drive West closure

Two culverts that have to be replaced on Millikin Road will close the road in Fairfield Township beginning Wednesday. The closure was originally scheduled to start Monday, but was postponed until Tuesday due to inclement weather. On Tuesday morning, it was then pushed back again to Wednesday.

Crews from the Butler County Engineer’s Office will begin work at the westernmost culvert and work east. Portions of the road between Judith Drive and Morris Road would be closed to accommodate the work.

Each replacement is expected to take two to three days to complete, weather permitting, with the road reopening tentatively set for April 1.

The first culvert is located 100 feet east of Judith Drive and 250 feet west of Beaty Lane.

Once it is replaced, work will begin on the second culvert, located 400 feet east of Indian Trace Drive and 400 feet west of Morris Road.

For more information on this projects and others, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Millikin Road, Millikin Road closure, Millikin Road Fairfield Township

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

A road improvement project begun last year will close Liberty-Fairfield Road for one month beginning next Monday, April 1.

The road will be closed to through traffic between Logsdon’s Woods Drive and Princeton Road on the border between Liberty and Fairfield townships. Local access will be maintained only for residents, businesses, school buses and emergency vehicles.

The road is being closed so that existing lanes can be widened from 10 to 12 feet along with adding two-foot paved shoulders and a two-foot earth berm. Affected driveways will be reconstructed and drainage will be improved as part of the project.

A small bridge was replaced before construction stopped last winter with the onset of winter. Weather permitting, the project should be completed in early May, with the road reopening tentatively set for the week of April 29.

The small bridge located between Maple Crest Drive and Weathered Oaks Drive/Stone Creek Drive will be completely closed.

During the closing northbound Liberty-Fairfield Road traffic will detour east on Hamilton-Mason Road, north on Ohio 747 and west on Princeton Road. Southbound traffic would reverse the route.

For more information on local road closures, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office

Two culverts that have to be replaced on Millikin Road will close the road in Fairfield Township beginning Tuesday. The closure was scheduled to start Monday, but was postponed until tomorrow due to inclement weather.

Crews from the Butler County Engineer’s Office will begin work at the westernmost culvert and work east. Portions of the road between Judith Drive and Morris Road would be closed to accommodate the work.

Each replacement is expected to take two to three days to complete, weather permitting, with the road reopening tentatively set for April 1.

The first culvert is located 100 feet east of Judith Drive and 250 feet west of Beaty Lane.

Once it is replaced, work will begin on the second culvert, located 400 feet east of Indian Trace Drive and 400 feet west of Morris Road.

For more information on this projects and others, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Millikin Road, Millikin Road closure, Millikin Road Fairfield Township

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

Two culverts that have to be replaced on Millikin Road will close the road in Fairfield Township beginning March 25.

Crews from the Butler County Engineer’s Office will begin work at the westernmost culvert and work east. Portions of the road between Judith Drive and Morris Road would be closed to accommodate the work.

Each replacement is expected to take two to three days to complete, weather permitting, with the road reopening tentatively set for April 1.

The first culvert is located 100 feet east of Judith Drive and 250 feet west of Beaty Lane.

Once it is replaced, work will begin on the second culvert, located 400 feet east of Indian Trace Drive and 400 feet west of Morris Road.

For more information on this projects and others, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, Millikin Road, Millikin Road closure, Millikin Road Fairfield Township

Sue Kiesewetter reports:

A proposed roundabout that would be constructed in Liberty Township next year has at least two residents wondering whether the money would be better spent on other projects.

But representatives from the Butler County engineer’s office say the traffic-slowing roundabout is needed at the intersection of Kyles Station and Yankee roads.

An Ohio Public Works Commission grant will pay for 80 percent of the project’s estimated $650,000 cost, with the engineer’s office contributing the matching 20 percent.

“There were five accidents in less than a year when it was a two-way stop,’’ said Ray McCurley, who lives on Kyles Station near the proposed roundabout. “Now it’s a four-way stop and it’s safer.”

That intersection has long been among Butler County’s top 10 accident sites, said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the engineer’s office.

There were seven accidents there in 2009, the year before the intersection was switched from a two-way stop to a four-way stop. There was one accident in 2010 and none since, Petrocy said.

“With a stop sign, there’s no guarantee people will stop. With a roundabout, the physical restraints force people to slow down,” Petrocy said.

“Our traffic engineers do not feel comfortable keeping this intersection simply as a four-way stop. A roundabout truly is more efficient and safer. It is the better long-term solution.”

Not so, the residents say. They have collected signatures from more than 150 people in the area who oppose installation of the roundabout.

Installing a roundabout would present other safety problems and lower property values, McCurley, and neighbor Randy Slattery, say.

Both men said they would have to back out of their driveways into the roundabout with very little site distance due to the circular shape of the roundabout.

Traffic always enters or exits a roundabout by making right turns into or out of the structure, yielding to traffic from the left.

Petrocy said both driveways are on the exterior of the roundabout and there is plenty of site distance.

Slattery is also worried about having to cross the roundabout to get to his mailbox and the safety of his children at the bus stop. Bus drivers were among those signing the petition he said.

“What bothers me the most is they (engineers) don’t want to hear our input. They tried to push the project through without anybody knowing about it,” Slattery said.

The men plan to take their concerns to the Dec. 27 meeting of the Butler County commissioners.

Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Commissioners, Butler County Engineer's Office, Ohio Public Works Commission

The West Chester Board of Trustees approved the establishment of “No Parking Zones” near several of the community’s schools on Tuesday. The schools affected by the new “No Parking Zones” are Hopewell Junior and Hopewell Elementary, as well as Endeavor Elementary and Adena Elementary.

The West Chester Police Department, Community Services, Lakota Local Schools and the Butler County Engineer’s Office recommended the zones be identified due to safety issues with student drop-off and pick-up.

Vehicles stopping within the school zone and/or on neighboring streets to drop off or pick up children from school created obstructions for pedestrians and vehicular traffic traveling near the schools.

A “No Parking Zone” was approved near Endeavor Elementary on Smith Road prohibiting parking, standing or stopping of vehicles in the school zone on school days between the hours of 8 to 9 a.m. and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Additionally, no parking will be allowed anytime on R.E. Smith Drive between Smith Road and Misty Shore Drive, and no parking anytime on Bar Harbor Way between Smith Road and South Port Drive.

Also approved is no parking, standing or stopping of vehicles in the school zone between Heritage Drive and Adena Hills Court between the hours of 8 to 9 a.m. and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on school days.

A “No Parking Zone” will also be enacted for Manor Drive near Hopewell junior and elementary schools. This would prohibit parking, standing or stopping of vehicles on Manor Drive on school days from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m. on the north side of Manor Drive between Candlelight Terrace and Rickhaven Court and on the south side of Manor Drive between the west property line of 7849 Manor Drive and the east property line of 7879 Manor Drive.

The “No Parking Zones” will be marked and become effective on Jan. 4, 2013.

Posted in: Government, News, Schools |

Tags: Tags: Adena Elementary, Adena Elementary School, Butler County Engineer's Office, Endeavor Elementary, Endeavor Elementary School, Hopewell Elementary, Hopewell Junior, Lakota Local Schools, No parking, no parking zones, no parking zones Lakota schools, No parking zones West Chester, West Chester Police Department

The Butler County Engineer’s Office reports that Millikin Road in Liberty Township is now open, after being closed between Liberty-Fairfield Road and Ohio 747 since Oct. 1 for a widening project.

Before the project began, Township trustees told The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Sue Kiesewetter that they were pleased that county officials were upgrading the road.

“It’s a well-needed improvement and addresses a safety issue,’’ Trustee Pat Hiltman told The Enquirer. “They’re taking an old farm road and bringing it up to current standards for safety.”

The project, which took place on a one-mile stretch of Millikin Road, included the widening of existing lanes from 10 to 12 feet. Furthermore, two-foot wide pave shoulders and a two-foot earth berm were added. Driveways and drainage features also had to be reconstructed to accommodate the widening.

In September, Kiesewetter also reported on other recent improvements to Millikin Road.

It is one of several projects – and the second improvement to Milllikin Road – completed in the last 12 months in the growing township. Last spring a section of the road between the north and south legs of LeSourdsville-West Chester Road was improved.

Other projects included adding a roundabout at Kyles Station and LeSourdsville-West Chester roads and the widening of Butler-Warren Road currently underway at the townships eastern edge.

“With recent and coming development in the area, Millikin Road is carrying more and more traffic,’’ said Greg Wilkens, Butler County engineer. “This project will make it much safer for cars, buses, and trucks which share the roadway.”

For more information on local road closures, visit www.bceo.org/roadclosings.

Posted in: News, Traffic |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Engineer's Office, commute, construction, liberty township, Liberty Township construction, Liberty Township road closures, liberty-fairfield, milikin road, ohio 747, traffic, West Chester construction, West Chester road closures