Fairborn applying for grants to fund street projects

0

FAIRBORN — Fairborn City Council granted permission to Fairborn City Engineer Don O’Connor to apply for two grants that would fund aesthetic and usability improvements to Broad Street and Col. Glenn Highway in the coming years.

Grant dollars would be distributed by the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission. In order to be approved, grant applications require a match from each applying municipality, a resolution from council and a priority ranking of projects.

Broad Street

If approved, the grant dollars would fund construction on Broad Street from Piece Drive to Fairborn’s southern corporation limit. Approximately 6,500 cars travel down Broad Street per day, according to O’Connor, which he said is low for a state route and four-lane road. The construction would reduce Broad Street down to three lanes — one in each direction and one turn lane. It would also address paving and decorative elements as well as bike facilities that would connect the path to Dayton Drive, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Piece Drive. The addition of on-street parking is also a possibility.

“This is an existing curb-to-curb footprint for bike lanes in each direction and possibly even on-street parking,” O’Connor said Oct. 2 as he presented the item to council for approval. “There’s a lot of options.”

If grant dollars are approved, the project is targeted for fiscal year 2023. O’Connor said it would be referred to phase II of Broad Street enhancements as a phase I improvement project, stretching from Sandhill Drive to Spangler Road, is already funded and is currently in the development process.

“What we’re looking [at] is very similar to our Main Street streetscape projects,” he said. “Let’s take our Broad Street, downtown corridor and help beautify that and enhance it and open it up to other transportation modes.”

It is currently estimated to cost $2,400,000. The matched funds from the MVRPC include $350,000, while additional anticipated grants are $1,050,000. Fairborn’s estimated share is $1,000,000. O’Connor said the Broad Street project is prioritized first.

Col. Glenn Highway

If approved, the grant would fund improvements on Col. Glenn from Paramount Place to the Fairborn eastern corporate limit. The dollars would go toward laying new pavement as well as undertaking pavement repairs, installing new curbs and traffic signals in addition to improving the roadway’s drainage.

The grant would also fund safety improvements to the North Fairfield Road and Col. Glenn Highway intersection. O’Connor said it is the highest-crash intersection in Fairborn.

“We’re also looking to pave [a] section of North Fairfield,” he said. “As you’re driving through there now, there’s some rutting, the pavement isn’t terrible, but remember — five years from now the pavement will be worse. We’re looking to hit that very busy area in 2023.”

It is also targeted for fiscal year 2023 if approved. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $2,700,000, while grant funds would include $2,100,000. Fairborn’s estimated share is $600,000.

By Whitney Vickers

[email protected]

Contact Whitney Vickers at 937-502-4532.

No posts to display