WILMINGTON — On the Clinton County Engineer’s schedule for the upcoming construction season is a project to add a turn lane to State Route 73 South where it meets Antioch Road.
Adding a turn lane in the southbound direction will enable continuous traffic flow for vehicles going south on SR 73, while also providing a place for southbound motorists who are turning left onto Antioch Road to stop for oncoming traffic. Accordingly, the road improvement is regarded as a safety project, said Clinton County Engineer Jeff Linkous.
The project is funded by federal gas-tax grant dollars, with additional contributions through the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Linkous said road safety projects are funded by 80 percent federal money, and usually matched with dollars through the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC), “so that the amount that the county pays is very little.”
The Clinton County Engineer’s Office is leading the project, and participating by preparing the plans and administering the construction.
Meanwhile, the county engineer’s office plans to repave portions of six roads this summer, and all of School Road.
The six roads to be resurfaced in part are: Sabina Road from Prairie Road to State Route 72; Antioch Road from the Scissorville Road intersection to State Route 729; a short stretch of Beechgrove Road from Ogden Road to where Ogden Road picks back up; Ogden Road from Beechgrove Road to Routes 22/3; Hale Road from Webb Road to State Route 73; and Fife Avenue basically from the city park to Davids Drive.
Another safety project along Antioch Road is slated for next year. A curve on Antioch Road — located just north of where the road joins Fife Road — will be improved in 2021. The site has been the spot of numerous crashes, according to the engineer’s office.
Part of this project will involve removing several hills and widening lanes for about 1,500 feet in both directions from Fife Road, according to Clinton County Deputy Engineer Adam Fricke.
This project will be funded 80 percent with federal gas-tax grant dollars, and will be supplemented with grant money through OPWC and/or local gas-tax revenue, stated the county engineer’s office annual report issued in spring 2019.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
