By Michael Howell
Fairgrounds Road has the highest use of any road in the City of Hamilton except Highway 93 and sometimes Marcus Street. Traffic volumes measure about 7,300 vehicles daily near the intersection with Old Corvallis Road and 3,100 at the intersection with the Eastside Highway. These volumes are forecasted to grow to 15,900 and 13,200 respectively over the next 30 years.
Based on the result of a Transportation Plan done jointly by the City and the County and a pedestrian plan done by the City major improvements are slated for the road. A complete reconstruction of the road has been designed, including a redesign of the intersection at Old Corvallis Road as well as at the Eastside Highway. It will include bicycle lanes and sidewalks as well as some lighting. The road will be constructed to the standards of a collector road and the total cost of the improvements is estimated at $2.7 million. Officials hope to pay for a bulk of the project with Tiger Grant funds. The first phase of the project, however, involving only pedestrian improvements, will be done with Community Transportation Enhancement Program funds at an estimated cost of $568,744.
City of Hamilton’s Special Projects Director Dennis Stranger gave the County Commissioners an overview of the project last week. The City examined four alternatives for the proposed CTEP project. The preferred alternative chosen by the city involves doing the sidewalk construction on the north side of the road from Highway 93 to Daly Ave. and on the south side of the road from Daly Ave. to Kurtz lane. A crosswalk is planned that will include bulb-outs and flashing beacons around the Daly Ave. intersection.
Doing the initial sidewalk construction on half the north and half the south sides with a crosswalk to connect them was chosen as the preferred alternative due to easement acquisition issues and buried utility lines that will increase the cost substantially on the other planned sections. Those deferred sections will be completed in conjunction with the full reconstruction of the road.
Breakdown of the costs of the initial phase is $207,803 for the sidewalk on the north, $233,937 for the sidewalk on the south, $51,614 for the crosswalk and $75,400 for lighting. Stranger said that the project could be done this fall or perhaps next spring.