By Kelly Doran
Sun staff
The Ohio Department of Transportation made the decision recently not to reroute part of state Route 32, part of the Eastern Corridor Project.
ODOT is no longer looking at relocating the corridors that run west across the river through the Little Miami Valley but rather will be looking at what can be done with the existing road to improve traffic flow, Cunningham said.
Segment two of the project is west of Newtown Road across the Little Miami River and segment three is east of Newtown Road towards Anderson Township, said Brian Cunningham, communications manager at ODOT.
ODOT decided not to relocate 32 because of environmental factors that would be difficult to mitigate and because of public input in opposition to the project, Cunningham said.
In addition, the final determination was also based on what was discussed in the June 4 meeting of the working group, Cunningham said.
ODOT has to go through a federal designated process in the next couple of weeks to develop reasons that the corridor relocation will not be pursued.
There will also be a public comment period on that in the next few weeks, Cunningham said.
The part of 32 east of Newtown Road could still be relocated, but there are no set plans yet. There will be public hearings and meetings before a plan is put in place, Cunningham said.
The Sierra Club is cautiously optimistic about the change in plans, as it seems the it will eliminate a lot of the club’s concerns, said Nathan Alley, conservation program coordinator for the Sierra Club.
However, the club members are waiting to see final designs and documents before they make a judgment.
In addition, ODOT still has not said if there are plans to build a new bridge, Alley said.
“We’re feeling good about what happened but we certainly still haven’t had our concerns addressed and our questions answered,” Alley said.
It is positive that ODOT has environmental and socioeconomic reasons for changing the plan, and Alley hopes that because the club has often discussed the environmental reasons not to build a bridge that ODOT will decide not to build it.
“No highway doesn’t necessarily mean no bridge and that’s why we remain concerned,” Alley said.
Clermont County Engineer Pat Manger recognizes that plans like this get eliminated sometimes but said it’s never good news when this happens.
“I view that as very much part of the process,” Manger said.
Manger hopes that ODOT is upfront and open about the specific reasons for not relocating that section of 32 because he feels ODOT owes it to everyone.
“I remain optimistic that the corridor as a whole is a very needed and necessary feature in southwest Ohio and we’ll continue everything on our end to see that through,” Manger said.