Gallia BUILD Projects
GALLIA COUNTY CONNECTIVITY PROJECT
INVESTING IN THE SOUTHEAST APPALACHIAN OHIO REGION WHILE BOOSTING OPPORTUNITY INTO THE APPALACHIAN TRI-STATE AREAS OF KENTUCKY, WEST VIRGINIA, AND OHIO
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Infrastructure Efficiency
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Commerce Transportation: Inter-modal Transportation
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Access to the Largest River Port East of the Mississippi River and Rail to other states
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Safety- Trucking Industry
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Financial Due Diligence and Stewardship
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Innovative Bidding/ SEP-15 and Design-Build Applications
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Private-Public Partnerships
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Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math Collaboration with Education Systems
SUMMARY
The Gallia County Engineer's Office and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) are partnering to develop an east-west "smart"corridor in the Southeast Appalachian Ohio region. The project consists of: (1) adding an interchange along US Route 35 while utilizing an existing overpass bridge and four rest-area ramps, and (2) developing a State Route 7 bypass route along Bob Evan Highway/Farm Road to alleviate costly impacts to businesses and residents from flooding. Included in the project is the addition of two electric charging stations, developing a "smart" trucking rest area, and installing a data connectivity corridor to provide a two-lane testing route for the Ohio autonomous vehicle project along the same US 35/Bob Evans Highway bypass route.
The two development areas along US Route 35 include both Harrisburg Road and Bob Evans Highway. These areas provide three innovative public/private partnerships to install electric charging stations for over-the-road trucks and passenger vehicles and for the installation of data connectivity. The data connectivity will support the rural Ohio autonomous vehicle project, high tech industrial development and trucking industry expansion in the Southeast Appalachian Tri-State area. The project provides potential data connectivity to areas for additional innovative technologies, economic development including rural vehicle testing tracks to the States of West Virginia and Kentucky from Gallipolis, Ohio.
The project provides thirty-nine additional "smart" truck parking spaces at the rest areas utilizing the proposed interchange for access to improve safety on US 35 by eliminating truck parking along the ramps and shoulders. The closest truck rest area parking is approximately a distance of forty miles to this parking area. There is one additional location for trucks to park which is currently over capacity.
FUNDING
JOB CREATION AND RETENTION
State and local funds built the US Route 35 four-lane road that today has heavy truck counts of over 34% which is higher than the truck-traffic-count percentage along the I70 that runs through Columbus, Ohio. Gallia County has had a decline in residents and jobs in the last 10 years. With the recent upturn in the national economy and the positive reinvestment into the industrial and manufacturing sectors, the Southeast Appalachian region is positioned to expand in job and population growth in the high tech industrial and manufacturing sectors from opportunities like the BUILD grant.
REGIONAL SUPPORT
The Southeast Appalachian partnerships which include both public and private entities such as the Ohio Department of Transportation, Appalachian Regional Commission, Eastern Federal Lands, Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Agriculture, American Electric Power, and Horizon have resulted in continued infrastructure improvements.