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NEWS
Bill would help fund Chesapeake Bypass
CHESAPEAKE, Ohio -- A $700,000 appropriation for the Chesapeake Bypass project, also called the Tri-State Outer Belt, has been included in a transportation bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and forwarded to the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, included the appropriation in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act approved Friday.
"The Chesapeake Bypass, when completed, will help spur economic development in the region and increase road safety for school buses, commercial trucks and local residents," Wilson said in a prepared release. "In addition, completion of the outer belt will help ease local traffic congestion and provide an alternative route when Interstate 64 is closed."
Lawrence County officials are pushing to file an application by Friday to push for construction of Phase 2 of the bypass. The first phase of the project, a two-lane, limited access highway from the East Huntington Bridge west to Fairland West Elementary School, was completed several years ago. The section between the bridge west to Chesapeake near the Robert C. Byrd Bridge was taken off the list for state funding. The project has a $140 million pricetag.
The U.S. Senate is moving through appropriation bills this week, but hasn't scheduled a vote as yet on the transportation bill, said Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. "Hopefully they'll do it before the August recess," she said Monday.
The money would be used for land acquisition, said Bill Dingus, executive director of the Greater Lawrence County Area Chamber of Commerce. "This will help to keep the project moving forward if it's funded," he said. "It's important to get the right-of-way for the project. We're very thankful that Congressman Wilson continues to keep this as a major priority in his highway goals."
If the bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law, it earmarks the money for the Ohio Department of Transportation for land acquisition for the bypass, said Ralph Kline, co-chair of the chamber's transportation committee.
Federal funding for the project is important, he said. "It should help," he said. "It all helps."
Kline is working this week to submit an application to the state Transportation Review Advisory Committee, which has oversight for Ohio road projects. "We want to get it back on the Tier 1 list for funding," he said. The project was on that list at one time, but taken off after the first phase was completed.
County officials agreed to have the project broken up into phases to have a better chance to get funding. The plan calls for a four-lane, limited-access highway when it's completed. Thus far, only a two-lane section has been built from Proctorville east to Ohio 7.
