The multiphase project will add lanes to I-75 and provide full-depth pavement reconstruction from the Paddock Road Interchange to the Western Hills Viaduct. It also will include improvements to the interchanges at Hopple Street, I-74, Mitchell Avenue, Norwood Lateral, and Paddock Road — a length of approximately 8 mi.
(ODOT photo)
Following completion of the Phase 5A of its Mill Creek Expressway project, the Ohio Department of Transportation will award two more major contracts to general contractors to complete the 11-phase project in greater Cincinnati that started in 2010 and is scheduled for completion in 2025.
The remaining phases of the $550 million to $650 million overall project are Phase 5B, currently valued at $91 million, and Phase 8, currently valued at $121.6 million. Phase 5B is scheduled to start in the summer of 2022 and be completed in the fall of 2024. Phase 8 is scheduled to start in May 2022 and be delivered in September 2025.
Walsh Construction was awarded the contract for Phase 5A, an $86.9 million project that is adding lanes and resurfacing I-75 between the Mitchell Avenue interchange and the Western Hills Viaduct, and also includes improvements to the interchanges at Hopple Street, I-74 and Mitchell Avenue.
ODOT is looking to let the Phase 5B project in July 2021 and Phase 8 in January 2022.
"The preliminary development of both phases continues to be on schedule and moving to construction in a couple of years," said ODOT District 8 Communications Manager Brian Cunningham.
Phases 5A and 5B are widening and resurfacing 2 mi. of I-75, reconstructing 0.75 mi. of I-74, and rebuilding the I-75 interchange. Phase 5B will reconfigure the connection from southbound I-75 to westbound I-74 and provide additional improvements on westbound I-75.
Phase 8 will entail a complete asphalt pavement reconstruction and widening of 2.25 mi. of I-75 with additional northbound and southbound lanes and 0.25 mi. of reconstruction and widening of SR 562 in Hamilton County. Additional work will include reconstruction of 11 ramps, four roadway bridges, one pedestrian bridge, three railroad bridges, and 0.75 mi. of railroad reconstruction, as well as noise walls, retaining walls, ITS, lighting, water work, storm sewer systems, culvert rehabilitation, and BMP structures.
It also will involve reconstructing the SR 562/Norwood Lateral interchange, removing the Towne Avenue interchange, making minor improvements to the Paddock Road interchange and tying into the existing SR 126/Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway interchange southern ramps. The work zone extends from SR 562/Norwood Lateral to the area of SR 126/Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway/Galbraith Road.
The multiphase project will add lanes to I-75 and provide full-depth pavement reconstruction from the Paddock Road Interchange to the Western Hills Viaduct. It also will include improvements to the interchanges at Hopple Street, I-74, Mitchell Avenue, Norwood Lateral, and Paddock Road — a length of approximately 8 mi.
The purpose of the project is to improve traffic flow and enhance safety along I-75 from the Western Hills Viaduct interchange on the south to the Paddock Road interchange on the north. Detailed studies have identified poor existing physical conditions, substandard design features, high crash rates, and pervasive congestion within the project limits.
Phase 8 also will include some separation of storm sewers for the local metropolitan sewer district.
"The rebuilt sections of I-75 have been developed for a 20-year design life," said Cunningham.
Multiple public meetings were held to coordinate with adjacent communities.
The I-75 MCE project began in late 2004 with the intent of building upon the recommendations in the North South Transportation Initiative (NSTI) within this portion of the I-75 corridor.
The NTSI began in 2000 as a collaborative effort between the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission. It was a comprehensive evaluation of the transportation needs within the major north/south I-75 transportation artery, which spans nearly 100 mi. from northern Kentucky through Cincinnati and Dayton to the Miami County line.
Several documents were produced within the ODOT Project Development Process (PDP) to support the development of alternatives for the project.
Step 1, the Public Involvement Plan (April 2005), described the ways the project team would solicit public input to identify problems and establish project objectives; provide the public with information on the progress of the study and potential impacts and benefits of the alternatives under consideration; and solicit input for eventual preferred alternatives.
Step 2, Purpose and Need (April 2005), created a document that provided tangible, quantifiable data to support the needs for the project.
Step 3, the Existing and Future Conditions Report (May 2005), documented a broad range of transportation and environmental conditions within the study area.
Step 4, the Planning Study Report (June 2005), detailed the development of several concepts to address the identified needs of the project.
Step 5, the Conceptual Alternatives Study of March 2006, included the refined and analyzed transportation improvements selected for further study in Step 4.
Step 6, Assessment of Feasible Alternatives (May 2007), combined environmental data with the design information to evaluate each alternative for potential environmental consequences and design issues.
The final step, the Preferred Alternative Verification Review (April 2008), created a design submission that refined the project's impact limits.
Public participation was secured throughout the project development process, which used such methods as newsletters, a project website, neighborhood meetings, regular meetings of a stakeholder committee and open-house public meetings.
Alternatives for the project were developed for the I-75 mainline and each interchange, including Hopple, I-74/I-75, Colerain/Beekman, Mitchell, SR 562 (Norwood Lateral), Towne and Paddock.
Transystems served as the consultant for the comprehensive planning studies. The right-of-way acquisition, which cost $10.9 million, was completed in July 2008.
In 2017, prior to the start of the work, the project area on I-75 had an average of 158,800 cars and trucks per day. When all is done, the route will be able to carry 203,000 vehicles per day.
"The phases of the Mill Creek grouping of projects continues ODOT's focus to strategically improve safety and reduce congestion," said Cunningham. "I-75 is integral to the movement of goods and people in the eastern part of the United States. The pavement and interchange engineering on the route was significantly outdated and needed to be rebuilt."
Phase 1, at $53.7 million, was awarded to John R. Jurgensen Company and dealt with the reconstruction of the Mitchell Avenue interchange with I-75. The work began in June 2011 and was completed in December 2017. Phase 2, at $7.2 million, replaced the Monmouth Street overpass and converted Monmouth to a through street between Colerain Avenue and Central Parkway, in addition to removing the Bates Avenue overpass and the pedestrian bridge over I-75. The Great Lakes Construction Company was awarded the contract for this phase.
John R. Jurgensen Company secured the contract for Phase 3, a $13.3 million project that realigned the intersection of Colerain/Beekman avenues, added a new ramp from Beekman Avenue to westbound I-74, thus creating a full interchange, and eliminated the existing ramps from I-74 to Spring Grove Avenue The work was done between December 2013 and January 2015.
Phase 4, at $90.6 million, with the contract awarded to Kokosing Construction Company Inc., widened and resurfaced I-75 from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Monmouth overpass. The work included the reconstruction of the I-75 and Hopple Street interchange and removal of the pedestrian overpass over Central Parkway — an extent of approximately 1.6 mi..
Phase 6, which cost $22 million and was awarded to Kokosing, was completed between September 2013 and May 2017. This aspect of the MCE saw the replacement of the Indiana Ohio Railway Bridge over I-75 just south of SR 562/Norwood Lateral.
Phase 7 — a $29 million contract awarded to John R. Jurgensen — was completed between July 2014 and October 2017. It widened and resurfaced I-75 between Mitchell Avenue and the SR 562/Norwood Lateral, and included the reconstruction of the bridge over Vine St. (approximately one mi.).
Phases 8A and 9 are smaller in scope and scale. Great Lakes was awarded the contract for Phase 8A, a $7.6 million project that began in July 2017 and will be completed this summer. This work is replacing the Seymour Avenue bridge and reconstructing portions of the Paddock Road bridge over I-75. The bridge work is being done in preparation for I-75 mainline improvements. At $1.8 million, a project awarded to O'Rourke Wrecking Company and completed in March 2013, demolished several buildings near the Hopple Street interchange in preparation for I-75 mainline construction.
CEG
Irwin Rapoport
A journalist who started his career at a weekly community newspaper, Irwin Rapoport has written about construction and architecture for more than 15 years, as well as a variety of other subjects, such as recycling, environmental issues, business supply chains, property development, pulp and paper, agriculture, solar power and energy, and education. Getting the story right and illustrating the hard work and professionalism that goes into completing road, bridge, and building projects is important to him. A key element of his construction articles is to provide readers with an opportunity to see how general contractors and departments of transportation complete their projects and address challenges so that lessons learned can be shared with a wider audience.
Rapoport has a BA in History and a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University. His hobbies include hiking, birding, cycling, reading, going to concerts and plays, hanging out with friends and family, and architecture. He is keen to one day write an MA thesis on military and economic planning by the Great Powers prior to the start of the First World War.
Read more from Irwin Rapoport here.
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