New county TID focuses on Jug Street improvements
- ODOT announces its funding decision July 14. Funding can be up to 25 percent or maximum of 250,000.
- The TID was set to pursue funds to extend Innovation Parkway from the beauty campus to Mink Street.
HEATH – The new Licking County Transportation Improvement District has changed its initial funding request to make improvements to Jug Street Road.
Licking County Engineer Bill Lozier announced Tuesday the TID submitted a funding request to the Ohio Department of Transportation for improvements to Jug Street Road, from Mink Street Road to the Franklin County line.
The TID was set to pursue funds to extend Innovation Parkway from the New Albany Personal Care and Beauty Campus to Mink Street Road, but that will now be an ODOT project, so the TID can pursue other projects.
Lozier said ODOT will announce its funding decisions July 14. The funding can be up to 25 percent or a maximum of 250,000.
“If we’re going to support economic development in Jersey Township, Jug Street needs to be improved,” Lozier said. “Traffic is picking up, there are drainage problems and the road is deteriorating rapidly.
“Every time it rains, we get phone calls on flooding on Jug Street.”
The beauty campus employs about 2,000 people at a dozen companies, with about 1,700 additional jobs planned for the campus.
Amazon recently announced its Midwest expansion includes a $300 million data computing center in the Licking County part of New Albany, providing 25 jobs initially at a 150,000-square-foot facility on 68 acres north of Ohio 161 and east of Beech Road.
New Albany seeks to annex another 177 acres of Jersey Township, east of Harrison Road and as far north as Jug Street.
Jug Street connects Beech Road, which has an Ohio 161 interchange, with Mink Street Road, which will have an interchange with the state highway.
If the Jug Street project receives ODOT approval, right-of-way acquisition could occur in 2016-17 and construction in 2017-18, Lozier said.
The proposed project would widen the travel lanes to 11 feet and increase the shoulders to 2 feet along the 2.8-mile stretch of Jug Street, make drainage improvements and address safety issues at the Beech Road intersection.
Lozier said another priority project for the TID will be improvements to the Cherry Valley Road bridge in Newark and Thornwood Drive in Newark and Heath, eventually connecting Ohio 79 in Heath to the Ohio 16 interchange to be constructed east of Cherry Valley Road.
kmallett@newarkadvocate.com
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