ThisWeek CW 08/27/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/08/24/phase-4-improvements-city-eyes-new-try-for-gender-road-funding.html

Canal Winchester officials are trying to decide whether to try again to obtain state funding to help pay for phase 4 of Gender Road improvements.

Public Works Director Matt Peoples said last week the staff is still reviewing information to figure out if it would be worth spending money on the engineering needed in order to have the project ready to apply for Ohio Public Works Commission funding.

The city unsuccessfully sought a $1.6-million OPWC grant/loan package last year to expand the intersection at Gender and Groveport roads. Peoples said city officials don’t want to apply again if the results will be the same.

The deadline to submit the grant application is Sept. 15.

Peoples said at Canal Winchester City Council’s Aug. 3 meeting that he thought updated traffic counts and a slightly scaled-down design would make the application more likely to be accepted.

The new plan, which is still in draft form, was developed by city engineering contractor Adam Voris and the company EMH&T. It could potentially include two turn lanes from eastbound Groveport Road onto northbound Gender Road.

From westbound Groveport Road, the draft shows a dedicated right-turn lane onto northbound Gender Road and a single dedicated left-turn lane onto southbound Gender Road.

Since the inception of this project, the city has acquired enough rights of way on the north side of the intersection that any necessary widening would happen there, leaving the setbacks and rights of way on the south side of the intersection in place.

The current plans indicate a bike path north of the intersection would need to be moved farther north and would be extended west as the first stage of connecting the Canal Winchester bike paths to the Walnut Creek Metro Park system and to Groveport.

Peoples said more than 11,000 vehicles go through the intersection during the morning and afternoon rush hours. He said the changes would help alleviate traffic backups that now affect both Gender and Groveport roads.

“We’ve had a lot of public comment on this plan before, so we have been calling the residents to talk with them about the plan and modifications to it,” Peoples said. “As long as we can show we’re not impacting any resident property, I think that addresses a large portion of the issues. We don’t want the traffic to get worse because then it’ll find another place to go, which creates a bigger problem.”

Peoples said a new church project and the BrewDog facility are both being taken into consideration with this plan, as is the location of the Madison Township fire station on Gender Road, which may require an additional traffic signal.