Change is coming to Ohio 16-Cherry Valley interchange

NEWARK – After decades of anticipation, state and local politicians welcomed the official start of the Ohio 16-Cherry Valley Road Interchange Project at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday.

“This is a project with the longest tooth I’ve had to deal with,” said Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, noting that public desire for an interchange at Cherry Valley Road have been coming for at least the last 20 years. “There were many a day when I thought that this day wouldn’t materialize.”

The $31.6 million construction project, which will add a partial-clover leaf interchange and overpass, will begin Aug. 17.

Once the interchange is finished, the traffic light at Cherry Valley Road will be removed and the eastbound on-ramp from Newark-Granville Road to Ohio 16 will close.

Current traffic patterns will remain until the interchange is completed in the fall of 2016. Little construction is expected to occur on Ohio 16.

“It’s the completion of the 161 corridor to Columbus,” Newark Mayor Jeff Hall said. “This is the one piece that needs to be done.”

With all of the construction going on in downtown Newark, Hall said that the Cherry Valley interchange was an important piece of that puzzle.

“This is our gateway (to downtown),” Hall said.

Taking out the intersection at Cherry Valley Road will increase safety and make travel to and from Columbus more efficient, public officials said Friday.

“We are literally adding time to people’s lives,” said Rep. Scott Ryan, R-Granville Township. “You can’t measure that in dollars.”

Melissa Hartfield, Granville’s mayor, echoed the importance of safety. She described the current intersection as very dangerous and she said she was grateful eastbound travelers would no longer round a corner and come upon a traffic light.

All of the speakers Friday noted the start of the interchange construction has been a long time coming.

“In one unified voice over and over again, I heard we need an interchange at Cherry Valley,” said David Ray, District 5 deputy director for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “I’ve never heard so many people dedicated to a project.”

Ray also thanked Complete General, the project’s contractor, and all of the engineers working on the interchange.

“In October of 2016, you will have a beautiful interchange because of them.”

abisaro@gannett.com

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