Delaware County commissioners recently approved hiring a consulting engineer for a future Home Road widening project.
“We are proposing to undertake this project that would look at different options for improving the section of Home Road between Liberty Road and Route 315,” said Rob Riley, chief deputy engineer, on Feb. 22.
Earlier in the decade, the intersection of Home and Liberty roads had a traffic signal installed.
“We’re also in final design stage for some improvements at 315 and Home Road that would add a signal at that location, as well as widen Home Road,” Riley said. “So this is kind of the fill-in section that’s about a mile long, goes past the Olentangy Indian Caverns.”
The county will pay $197,089 to the firm of CH2M Hill for a feasibility study.
“There are some tricky curves in that area that unfortunately have a history of crashes,” Riley said. “At a minimum, we hope to upgrade those curves. Most likely, we’ll be looking to widen the road to a three- to potentially four- or five-lane section.”
“It’s a beautiful area in through there,” Commissioner Gary Merrell said of Home Road, also known as County Road 124.
“It sure is, and that’s one of the tricky things about this,” Riley said. “It’s going to be a difficult project, and we’re not proposing to go to construction anytime soon. We’re probably at least five to six years out from putting a shovel in the ground. It will take some time to go through the engineering process, looking at some different alternatives, moving the road this way or that way; what to do with the utilities and existing driveways.”
Residents in the area will be able to provide their input at a public involvement meeting before any construction.
Commissioner Jeff Benton asked about the timeline for three projects along the Home Road corridor.
Riley said the 315 (Olentangy River Road) intersection at Home Road was the highest priority, with construction in 2018, which includes widening the bridge over the Olentangy River.
“The next phase would then be the portion east of that, up the hill to (Route) 23,” Riley said. “That will be a three-lane section, with a center turn lane, and expectation on that would probably be 2020.”
The Home and Liberty project would follow upon completion of the other two projects, Riley said.
Also at the Feb. 22 meeting, commissioners accepted improvements by Rockford Homes for the Olentangy Falls East subdivision, which involved widening Hyatts Road.
