ARCHBOLD WEATHER

St. Rt. 66-Co. Rd. 24 Economic Impact Study Results To Be Presented Wed., June 17 At AHS




The results of a study of the economic impact of a proposed rerouting of St. Rts. 2 and 66 outside the village of Archbold will be presented to the public Wednesday, June 17, 7 pm, at the Archbold High School auditorium.

Dennis Howell, Archbold village administrator, said officials from the Bowling Green State University Center for Regional Development will be on hand to present the results of their study, “Economic Consequences of a Truck Bypass.”

A question-and-answer session will follow the presentation.

Proposal

County, village, and other officials began looking into rerouting St. Rts. 66 and 2 along the Co. Rd. 24 corridor for decades, but after the state of Ohio began selling bonds against future Ohio Turnpike revenues, the proj- ect gained momentum.

However, opposition surfaced, most notably at a Feb. 13, 2014 hearing.

At that hearing, commissioners from Fulton and Henry counties approved the first phase of the project, an engineering study, projected to cost $1.5 million.

There were 40 people in attendance; most were opposed to the rerouting.

About a dozen people spoke out against the relocation of the highways.

One complaint is that rerouting state highway traffic away from downtown would have a negative impact on retail and commercial businesses in Archbold.

Council approved the CRD study at its Sept. 8, 2014, meeting. The cost of the economic impact study is $29,960.

The goal of the study is to examine the economic impact on local businesses of relocating the highways.

Delayed

The study was to start Oct. 1 and was anticipated to be completed in January or February.

The results were delayed several times. An article in the Feb. 18 issue of this newspaper quoted Jim Wyse, Archbold mayor, as saying the study would be ready by mid- to late-March.

In an April 22 article, Wyse said the study was delayed, and there was no projected completion date.

In a May 13 article, Wyse attributed some of the delays in completion of the study to Boulevard Strategies, a Columbus based subcontracting firm.

Wyse said the firm had made errors in the results of surveys it conducted. For example, Arrow Tru-Line, a manufacturing firm, was listed as a retail business.

The first phase of the engineering study for the bypass project is waiting on the results of the economic development study.



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