Officials don’t know exactly when the roads will be closed and replaced because it will be timed to help construction needs of Spooky Nook, said city Engineer Rich Engle.
“I expect to close Rhea when there is a need to use the existing parking lot as a staging and storage area (for the project’s construction),” Engle told this media outlet.
Engle told Hamilton City Council before the vote that the pair of east-west roadways will cease to exist between Hunter Avenue and B Street.
The new Champion Boulevard will run parallel to Rhea and Warwick and will be slightly north of where Warwick Avenue is now — between Warwick and the “Gordon Avenue Alley.”
Unlike Warwick and Rhea, Champion Boulevard will bend southward as it approaches B Street so it meets at a 90-degree angle with B Street, which is a safer way to have an intersection than when streets converge at sharp angles.
“There’s a need to create more parking space for the Spooky Nook/Champion complex, and the vacating and closing of those two streets will assist with that,” Engle told council.
Engle noted there now are traffic lights at the intersections of B Street with both Rhea Avenue and Black Street that are too close together for proper traffic flow.
“There’s inadequate separation between those two traffic lights, such that during peak hours, traffic accumulates at both intersections, and vehicles fill the southbound left-turn lane on B Street to go across the Black Street Bridge,” Engle said.
The changes should alleviate that congestion, he said. Also, unlike at the current Rhea Avenue, motorists driving eastbound on Champion Boulevard will be able to turn left and go northbound on B Street, Engle said.
Closing Rhea and Warwick also will allow those who park in the Spooky Nook lots to walk to the complex without having to cross streets, making it safer for young athletes and their families, Engle said.
Another desired traffic improvement, the proposed North Hamilton Crossing, is farther away.
Dan Hancock, who lives near the Champion complex, at Wednesday’s council meeting asked about the proposed North Hamilton Crossing and its status.
Mayor Pat Moeller told him the city is in favor of a North Hamilton Crossing, which would include a northern bridge over the Great Miami River and CSX railroad tracks, and connect with Ohio 129 somewhere on the eastern part of the city. The new route, whose exact path has not been determined, would alleviate heavy rush-hour traffic on High and Main streets, although business leaders wouldn’t want it to eliminate too many vehicles from passing by stores there.
“I think our city deserves that type of traffic management,” Moeller said. “It does take time and a lot of money to accomplish that. But as you can tell, we can accomplish things around here.”
Hancock told city officials: “Now’s the time to start looking into it, because you’ve got two years before the (sports complex) opens up, to get the plans rolling, and getting the funds and all that.”
City leaders have estimated it may be a decade or more before the route exists.
“They’re still in those very, very, very early stages,” Moeller said. “But we have a lot of people on board.”
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