Middletown OKs I-75/Ohio 122 enhancement project

Middletowns welcome mat is about to get a face lift.

City Council approved a $941,000 contract Tuesday night with the Ohio Department of Transportation to construct improvements to the Interstate 75/Ohio 122 interchange in the East End.

The project is consistent with the recommendation of the Gateway Enhance Plan from four years ago and includes roadway lighting, 190 trees, 1,800 shrubs and decorative pylons, Scott Tadych, public works and utilities director, told council.

Federal grants will pay for most of the project while the city will be responsible for $335,000, he said. The money will come from the Capital Improvement Program ($175,000), Water Capital Reserve Fund ($36,000), Storm Water Capital Reserve Fund ($39,000) and the Towne Mall/Hospital Tax Increment Financing Fund ($85,100), he said.

Tadych said it was an emergency resolution because the legislation is due to ODOT today.

He said work is scheduled to begin in July and be complete by the end of the year.

Mayor Lawrence Mulligan Jr. said it was great to see the project moving forward.

Also, council heard a first reading of an ordinance that assessed residents and businesses along South Main Street, in the citys historic district, $222,000 for the installation of decorative street lighting between First Avenue and Ninth Avenue.

Tadych said those who received the lights either can pay their share or have the cost added to their tax bills for 10 years, starting in 2015. The assessments will be divided among the properties based on the property values, he said.

Earlier, the South Main Street Historic Neighborhood Association requested the lighting, and the work that also included a sidewalk, curb and gutter program and pavement resurfacing was completed.

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Middletown OKs I-75/Ohio 122 enhancement project