CINCINNATI — Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council Governments (OKI) awarded more than $50 million to 17 transportation projects in the Tri-State.
“There’s a variety of projects. Some of them are transit-related,” said Bob Koehler, deputy executive director of OKI. “As far as safety, several of the projects are intersection improvements, so that vehicles can accommodate the geometry of the intersection better. A couple of roundabouts.”
One of those roundabouts will be installed in Loveland at the intersection of Loveland Madeira Road and Valley View Lane.
“That is a signalized intersection that will become the roundabout. There will also be some center medians that will be installed,” said Cory Wright, assistant city manager for the City of Loveland.
OKI awarded the city more than $4.6 million for their project. Loveland will contribute more than $1.2 million. The money will help with phase one of the Loveland Madeira Corridor Improvements.
“This is an extremely active community and there’s always been that underlying goal of figuring out a way to utilize Loveland-Madeira Road and allow people to bike and walk into the downtown district,” said Loveland City Manager David Kennedy.
The money will also help improve pedestrian safety.
“We’ve got enough room on the north side to do a larger pathway for bicycles and pedestrians,” Wright said.
Loveland will add a sidewalk on the southeast side of the road and a multi-use on the northwest side.
“A lot of the projects these days are bring bicycle and pedestrian facilities, so obviously if a person can walk on the side of the sidewalk instead of being on the side of the road in the traffic lane that’s a big improvement and we’re seeing a lot of that these days communities asking for improvements of those types of modes of travel,” Koehler said.
Another city receiving money from OKI is Crestview Hills. OKI gave around $1.4 million to fix Horsebranch Road.
“The road gets a lot of traffic. We’ve done a lot of crack sealing, everything to try and maintain the road but it is a difficult road to work on,” said Crestview Hills Mayor Paul Meier.
OKI awarded Crestview Hills more than $4.6 million for the project. Meier said this project is a joint effort between the City of Crestview Hills and the City of Edgewood. Meier noted each city will contribute around 20% of the project's cost.
Meier added new water curbs and gutters will be added to the road.
“We have some drainage issues,” Meier said. “There’s a creek adjacent to the road, and we’ve actually spent close to $300,000 dollars just recently on trying to keep the bank intact, so the road doesn’t fall over into the creek.”
He said fixing this road is critical because several people, including emergency services, take that road to St. Elizabeth Healthcare.
“Also it feeds our office park, Thomas More Office Park and Thomas More University. We have over 400 apartments along that road,” Meier said.
OKI said most of the funds will be available in July 2026. Here’s a list of the transportation projects that received money from OKI.
October STBG/CMAQ federally funded projects by WCPO 9 News on Scribd
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