Old 3C Hwy. undergoing improvements

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A Galena resident recently commented that Old 3C Highway looks like a “war zone” during a Genoa Township Board of Trustees meeting.

Board Chair Karl R. Gebhardt had a more reasonable explanation.

“It’s a widening project by the county,” Gebhardt said. “They are widening, putting in another lane, as well as a sidewalk, and improving the drainage. There’s also a lot of utility work going on, gas line replacement. They started it, bad (winter) weather came in; they stopped, opened the road back up. They shut it down again (in March) to try to get it done by June.”

Heavy-duty equipment has been many a neighbor’s companion during the construction, but they will vanish upon the project’s completion. In addition, Gebhardt said a new retention pond should improve the standing water in yards and ditches that reared its head during a rainy February.

According to the Delaware County Road Construction guide, the “South Old 3C Highway Improvements” in Genoa was the No. 2 project on the county engineer’s barrel-list for 2019. The $5.5 million project, which the county projected as running from June 2018 to November 2019, consists of “Reconstruction from north of Mt. Royal Ave. to north of Freeman Road including storm sewers, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and a new traffic signal at Hawksbeard/Genoa Middle School. Northbound traffic will be detoured beginning spring 2019. Southbound-only traffic will be maintained for work zone residents.”

The construction guide, published Jan. 30, 2019, lists two dozen current and future road projects, including Old 3C; along with finishing touches on other work, not including jobs under $250,000 or brief closures. The projects total at least $78.5 million. Below is a short summary of them.

2019 Projects

• Centerburg Road over Culver Creek Bridge rehab: A two-month closure for a bridge deck replacement just west of Fredricks Road in Porter Township, starting in August.

• Countywide pavement resurfacing: From May to October, $8 million for repairing winter’s damage. Ditto for 2020.

• Culvert replacements: At Bunty Station, County Home, and Plumb roads; with six-week closures for each.

• East Powell Road: Phase 2 of this long-term project will commence in October with storm sewer work between I-71 and Bale Kenyon Road. It will include reconstruction from South Old State to Bale Kenyon and widening to three lanes and three new traffic signals.

• Freeman and Worthington Road intersection: A new traffic signal will be installed, with a realignment of Freeman and widening of Worthington, from June to August.

• Green Meadows and Highfield drives: A single-lane roundabout will be installed at the intersection during this July to October project.

• Harlem/Woodtown Road: A bridge will be replaced in Harlem Township, with widening and shoulder improvements, requiring a three-month closure in September.

• Home Road extension: Starting in August and continuing until Sept. 2020, a new 0.8-mile, four-lane roadway east of U.S. 23 to west of the railroad will be built, with addition of turn lanes on 23 and extending Graphics Way and Green Meadows Drive north to the new Home Road.

• Home Road and State Route 315: A new traffic signal and widening Home to five lanes east and west of 315, and bridge reconstruction from June to December.

• Lewis Center and North roads: A single-lane roundabout will be installed, with North Road currently closed for two months. Both roads will be widened, with the project completed by October.

• Liberty and Seldom Seen roads: A new traffic signal and left turn lanes on Liberty will be installed starting in September, with short-term lane restrictions.

• Piatt Road extension: A new road from Cheshire Road to Olentangy Berlin High School and a new single-lane modern roundabout at Cheshire Road. There will be a two-month intersection closure in June, but should be open by the start of school.

• South Old State Road: An April 5 tweet from Delaware County Engineer Chris Bauserman states, “Crews are working on finishing up the South Old State Road project including sidewalks, roadside finish grading and seeding requiring lane closures over the next few weeks during off-peak hours.”

• Steitz Road extension: Steitz will be extended north of Hyatts Road and a single-lane roundabout built at Hyatts, with a two-month closure in June.

• Traffic signals: New lights at Old State Road and Parklawn Drive; Alum Crossing and Bear Trail; and Lewis Center Road and Rail Timber Way in Orange Township.

2020 Projects

• Africa and Cheshire roads: Next summer, there will be widening over Alum Creek Lake and from Jaycox Road to Cheshire, and new turn lanes on Africa at Lewis Center and Plumb roads.

• Cheshire and Old State roads: A single-lane roundabout in Berlin Township will be built next summer.

• Home Road: Next fall, there will be widening from Perry Road to west of U.S. 23 for a center turn lane.

• Hyatts Road and U.S. 23: Widening of Hyatts and Shanahan roads for left turn lanes at 23 during spring and summer.

• Orange Road: Phase 2 of the project starting in the spring will widen Orange to five lanes from the Post Office to east of Green Meadows Drive, with four new traffic signals.

• Worthington and Africa roads: Starting next summer and continuing over a year, this busy intersection will be widened to five lanes, and to three lanes between Africa and Highland Lakes Avenue, with a new right turn lane.

2021 Projects

• Dublin Road: Two summers from now, a single-lane roundabout will be installed at the intersection of Home Road and S.R. 745.

• Liberty Road: Also in the summer of 2021, a single-lane roundabout will be installed at the intersection of Liberty and Salisbury Drive.

For now, drivers can only go southbound on Old 3C Highway, which is restricted to one lane during construction.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/04/web1_South-Old-3C-southbound-April-2019-1-.jpgFor now, drivers can only go southbound on Old 3C Highway, which is restricted to one lane during construction. Gary Budzak photos | The Delaware Gazette

For now, drivers can’t go northbound on the Old 3C Highway, as seen from the intersection of Mt. Royal Avenue and state Route 3.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/04/web1_Old-3C-northbound-April-2019.jpgFor now, drivers can’t go northbound on the Old 3C Highway, as seen from the intersection of Mt. Royal Avenue and state Route 3. Gary Budzak photos | The Delaware Gazette

By Gary Budzak

[email protected]

Did You Know?

Old 3C got its name because it once connected Ohio’s three largest cities: Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland. Realignments became known as state Route 3, which now goes through Sunbury in Delaware County. Another diagonal road that bisects the county — Interstate 71 — now connects the three C cities. There was also once a 2C Highway that went through Delaware from Columbus to Cleveland. We now know it as U.S. 42, and it goes through the three C cities down to Louisville, Kentucky.

For more information, visit: http://www.lincolnhighwayoh.com/v1/3c.html

Gary Budzak may be reached at 740-413-0906 or on Twitter @GaryBudzak.

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