Public Works

Time for an Update

Conceptual rendering of the updated Central Avenue

Middletown invests in streets and new developments

BY DAVID HOLTHAUS

Much of Middletown’s infrastructure is in the midst of upgrades.

The city has embarked on a street paving project that will condense 10 years worth of resurfacing into a little more than two years, with a centerpiece of the project being the reconstruction and redesign of a key downtown corridor.

The street project is already under way and will continue throughout 2022 and into 2023, says Scott Tadych, Middletown’s public works director. “We’re repaving one-third of all the streets in Middletown over a two-and-a-halfyear period,” Tadych says.

The city typically spends about $3 million a year on street paving. This project will total a little more than $31 million. “We’re doing 10 years of work in two-and-a-half years,” Tadych says.

That’s thanks to a quarter-cent, 10-year income tax levy Middletown voters overwhelmingly approved in November 2020. Because of low interest rates, city officials decided to issue bonds for the full amount of the levy, and get the work done more quickly rather than stretch it out over 10 years.

Most of the work will be done on neighborhood streets that have not seen significant improvements in decades. “It’s focused almost exclusively on residential streets,” Tadych says.

Streets are assessed using a paving index ranging from 0 to 100, with 100 being a newly paved street. Pavement condition is the chief factor in the assessment, with traffic volume, safety issues, maintenance concerns and utility considerations also taken into account.

One non-residential street on the list is Central Avenue, which is not only scheduled for repaving but also for a makeover meant to attract visitors and improve walkability.

Central will be reconstructed between University Boulevard and Verity Parkway, a project that will include replacing the pavement, curbs and gutters. New traffic signals will be installed and new sidewalks will be built. Water mains and storm sewers will be replaced or improved.

What the public may notice most will be new, decorative LED street lighting, decorative

brick pavers between curb and sidewalks, new street furniture, landscaping and trees.

“We’re reconstructing this street from building face to building face,” Tadych says.

The $7.6 million project is being partly funded with a federal grant for $4.6 million administered through the Ohio-KentuckyIndiana Regional Council of Governments.

The Central Avenue reconstruction is part of Middletown’s downtown master plan that was adopted in 2019, a plan that calls for a downtown district that is pedestrian friendly.

“Part of the goal is to add new businesses,” Tadych says. “There’s a lot of empty storefronts there right now. We hope this initiates some private investment once the public investment has been made.”

Construction began in early March 2022 and should be completed, weather permitting, by 2023.

There’s more infrastructure development taking place largely underground that will have a substantial impact on the water quality of the Great Miami River.

In 2018, the city reached an agreement with the state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies to reduce the amount of stormwater and wastewater that is discharged into the Great Miami River. Middletown’s sewers handle both stormwater and wastewater, and, when flows are heavy, typically during heavy rainfalls, the combined sewers overflow into the river.

The agreement, called a consent decree, includes three main components: Implementing a Long-Term Control Plan to reduce combined sewer overflows into the Great Miami; rehabilitating about 40 miles of sewer pipes that are in need of repair; and

Street repaving is underway.

When the Long-Term Control Plan is completed, Middletown anticipates reducing the amount of untreated water flowing into the Great Miami and other waterways by 386 million gallons.

rehabilitating and upgrading the wastewater treatment plant to keep it viable for another 25 years.

The city has 25 years to complete the $270 million overall project and has recently completed two parts of it.

“We’re on track to meeting the EPA deadlines,” says Nakita Lancaster, Middletown’s assistant public works director.

In Sunset Park, a large, landscaped detention basin was built to hold stormwater, which will then be released slowly into the sewer system to prevent overflows. The project is considered green infrastructure and makes use of natural elements rather than constructing a new plant or pump station. The city made significant investment into the redesign and upgrade of Sunset Park and it was reopened in 2020.

The second project was a stormwater pump station that was completed in December 2021 at 700 N. University Blvd. The project, known as the Lakeside Redirect Project, reduces stormwater flowing into the combined sewer system, improving the sewer capacity, reducing potential for street and basement flooding, and lowering the amount of untreated water entering the Great Miami. A new storm sewer collects stormwater and redirects it to a surface water canal. This portion of the plan cost $12 million.

The city is currently evaluating design proposals for the next project—an underground water storage basin to be built downtown, at a location still to be determined. The basin will hold up to 5.1 million gallons of stormwater until the sewer system is able to process it, as it is more slowly released. Design work on the project should begin in mid-2022, with construction starting in late 2023, Lancaster says. Work on the project is expected to continue into 2025, she says. After construction, the surface will be finished to allow it to remain a permanently useable public space.

When the entire Long-Term Control Plan is completed, it’s anticipated that Middletown will reduce the amount of untreated water flowing into the Great Miami and other waterways by 386 million gallons, Lancaster says. n