NEWS

What’s next road priority after Cherry Valley interchange?

Kent Mallett
Reporter
  • The Ohio 16-Cherry Valley Road interchange has been priority No. 1 for more than a decade. What now?
  • Potential priorities are: Thornwood Drive; Interstate 70; U.S. 62; Ohio 310; Jersey Township roads.

NEWARK – As the Ohio 16-Cherry Valley Road interchange project gets underway, the search for Licking County’s next top transportation priority begins.

For more than a decade, government and business leaders throughout Licking County rallied in support of construction funding to replace the traffic signal and intersection.

Matt Hill, senior transportation planner for the Licking County Area Transportation Study, began the discussion at a recent LCATS meeting.

“I’ve been here since 2001, and Cherry Valley and (Ohio) 16 has been No. 1 ever since,” Hill said. “What is No. 1 now?”

LCATS will rank local projects early next year, after a discussion this year about the importance of various projects that have no construction funding.

Dan Evers, economic development director of Grow Licking County, said he doesn’t want to single out one project now, but he thinks there will eventually be general agreement.

“I think there needs to be an ongoing community conversation on what’s next and what does it fully entail,” Evers said. “I see the community increasingly coalescing around issues, opportunities and challenges.”

Rick Platt, executive director of the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority and an LCATS Board member, did not hesitate.

“The answer is Thornwood,” Platt said of the plan to widen Thornwood Drive through Newark and Heath, from the Cherry Valley interchange area to Ridgely Tract Road, connecting to Ohio 79.

“The completion of the Cherry Valley interchange is the first of three things that have to happen to make that (Thornwood) corridor reach its full value. I think there’s countywide benefit to do that.”

The follow-up to the new interchange is a new bridge on Cherry Valley Road at Reddington Road. Hill said funding for that project will be available in 2019.

Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb said the interchange became the obvious priority because of long backups on Ohio 16.

“I’m not sure the next piece is as obvious immediately,” Bubb said. “Thornwood is the most obvious. It does affect the metro area of Newark-Granville-Heath, it’s a development corridor, and it takes pressure off (Ohio) 79.”

Raising the level of Interstate 70 from Ohio 37 to Ohio 79, adding a third lane to I-70 from Ohio 256 to Ohio 13, and improving U.S. 62 from Johnstown to New Albany are important projects, Hill said.

Bubb said the U.S. 62 bypass of Johnstown, widening Ohio 310 north of I-70, and improving Jersey Township roads affected by the Ohio 161-Beech interchange are other key projects.

kmallett@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8545

Twitter: @kmallett1958

What’s next?

What should be the next No. 1 transportation priority in Licking County? Call reporter Kent Mallett at 740-328-8545, email kmallett@newarkadvocate.com, or tweet @kmallett1958.