Clark County Engineer Johnathan Burr said that closures occur on Spangler Road near Interstate 675 and Medway roughly half a dozen times per year due to water flooding from the Mad River during heavy rains. Some shutdowns are major closures that require cleaning of debris, Burr said.
Standing water also occurs in the Spangler Road area through run-off from Champaign and Logan counties.
The section of roadway from South Union Road northward to the small bridge just south of the traffic signal at Main Street in Medway is within a flood zone that causes the roadway to flood during high water events, which has contributed to standing water and wet pavement crashes on this section, according to a 2020 study of the area by the Clark County Engineer Office.
“Much of the section of roadway is below the elevation of the 100-year flood elevation that leads to periodic flooding events,” the study said. “These flooding events washes away berm materials along Spangler Road that creates a hazard and a maintenance issue.”
More than 30 crashes were reported on Spangler Road in the area from Restoration Park Drive to Lower Valley between 2016 and 2018, the study found.
The safety improvement project on Spangler Road will shift the road’s intersection with Union Road further north. Burr said a preliminary cost estimate for the construction of the project is $5.7 million, but a clear estimate will be made during the safety project’s engineering, a stage expected to see completion in early 2022.
In addition to the $1 million in ARPA funding authorized for the project by the Clark County commissioners, an additional $3 million was committed to the project by the County Engineers Association of Ohio. Additional funding may also come through the Ohio Department of Transportation, Burr said.
Construction for the project is expected to begin in July 2025.
The commissioners have authorized more than $9 million in ARPA spending. That money is being used for the reimbursement to the general fund for pandemic-related losses in revenue, the reimbursement of employee paid administrative leave resulting from anytime between March 3 and June 2, the funding of technology for the county’s dispatch center, expected to open in 2022.
Commissioners also approved ARPA spending for a stormwater improvement project for Enon-Xenia Road to help alleviate flooding in the area and for a fiber optic project to service county-owned buildings. In addition, funding will also go toward broadband expansion in the county.
By the Numbers:
$1 million: American Rescue Plan Act funding to go toward safety project
$26 million: American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated to Clark County
2025: Expected starting year of safety project construction
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