Fishinger Road rebuilding project expected to take two years

Nate Ellis, ThisWeek
·3 min read

Upper Arlington officials expect the two-part reconstruction of Fishinger Road - the first in 60 years - will extend into the next two years.

Crews from Strawser Paving Co. began work Oct. 17 to rebuild Fishinger from Mountview to Tremont roads. The first phase also will include the reconstruction of Fishinger from Mountview Road to Riverside Drive.

On Oct. 17, crews from Strawser Paving Co. began work to rebuild Fishinger Road from Mountview Road to Tremont Road. The work represents the first reconstruction of the roadway since 1962.
On Oct. 17, crews from Strawser Paving Co. began work to rebuild Fishinger Road from Mountview Road to Tremont Road. The work represents the first reconstruction of the roadway since 1962.

According to the city's Engineering Division, the work is the first major reconstruction of Fishinger since 1962.

The total project is expected to cost approximately $12.9 million.

However, the city is expected to receive about $8.4 million in federal transportation grants to be distributed by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and another $811,934 from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

With the outside funding, the city's estimated share would be approximately $4.4 million – or roughly $2.26 million for phase 1 and $2.16 million for phase 2.

"Improvements on Fishinger Road from Tremont Road to Riverside Drive are overdue," City Engineer Carla Odebralski said. "The condition of the pavement and curbs has been deteriorating more severely, and the city’s Public Works team spends weeks repairing potholes every year."

In addition to rebuilding the road, the projects will include upgrading streetlights along Fishinger with LED technology.

Odebralski said the corridor currently has fluorescent lighting on wooden poles.

Additionally, the water line under Fishinger will be replaced and sidewalks will be widened.

"The water line needs to be replaced due to its age and break history so that this full-depth street replacement is less likely to be impacted by a water main break," Odebralski said. "Upgrading the sidewalk on the south side to (a) five-foot width and adding an eight-foot width on the north will make this busy east-west street more pedestrian-friendly.

"The signals at Mountview Road and Kioka Drive will also be replaced.”

Odebralski said the first phase of the work is expected to extend into October 2023. Phase 2 is then expected to start in 2024 and take about a year to complete.

"Full-depth reconstruction includes stabilizing the road base, which is the root cause of many of the surface issues we are currently seeing on Fishinger Road," Odebralski said. "This stabilization will prevent these deficiencies from reoccurring for many years.

"The upgraded streetlights will provide a more consistent lighting along the corridor as well as bring the light poles along Fishinger Road in line with our current street lighting standard,” she said. “The traffic signals will be replaced with signals mounted on a mast arm as opposed to the current strain pole configuration."

According to data provided by the Upper Arlington Public Works Division, Riverside Drive is the busiest road in the city, averaging about 27,000 vehicles daily.

Fishinger Road sees an average of 18,500 vehicles each day. That's an average of 2,500 more vehicles per day than a portion of Lane Avenue from Northwest Boulevard to North Star Road that is identified as the next-busiest east-west thoroughfare in the city.

nellis@thisweeknews.com

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Upper Arlington: Fishinger Road project expected to take two years