City gives multi-year update on Southwest connectivity and overpass project; funding gap remains

City staff provided a multi-part update March 3 on a proposed overpass and related roadway projects intended to improve connectivity across I‑71 and unlock development in the Southwest Grove City area.

Planning staff traced the work to the Grove City 2050 planning effort and said the Southwest area offers roughly 900 acres of developable land. The staff presentation divided the program into four or five projects: (1) North Meadows Drive improvements (Part 1), (2) Quail Creek Boulevard and Innovation Parkway connections (Part 2, split into 2a and 2b), (3) the Overpass/Interchange (Part 3), and (4) Hahn Road improvements (Part 4). City staff said the program is being phased to match funding windows, right-of-way needs and logical termini.

City staff described the timeline as a multi-year effort (roughly five to six years for the first phases) and said they were working to secure funding from several sources. The transcript records a federal earmark of $4,000,000 obtained through Congressman Carey’s office and an additional $2,625,000 from a program referenced in the presentation as the "Morpsey attributable funds" program; the city also reserved $2,000,000 in the 2025 budget for engineering and land acquisition. Land-acquisition costs were not yet fully determined and therefore not included in the project-cost totals presented.

Staff said the North Meadows Drive project was about 65% through design and they expected to bid late summer with construction starting in late summer or early fall. Staff reported they were coordinating with multiple property owners (Mount Carmel, Buckeye Ranch, Gateway Business Park, and others) on right-of-way and land acquisition and had begun appraisal work.

The Quail Creek Boulevard extension (Part 2a) would link southern Grove shopping and recent development to the broader network; staff reported survey work and preliminary engineering had been completed and that Kroger’s real-estate group is a key remaining parcel coordination step. The Innovation Parkway segment (Part 2b) would run primarily across Buckeye Ranch property and was described as a cooperative project to make parcels development-ready.

For the overpass (Part 3) staff said they were evaluating whether a partial interchange (with a southbound exit and northbound entrance ramp) could be justified; that decision will require an extensive traffic study and federal and ODOT approvals. Staff also reported that an environmental study had begun to unlock federal earmark funds and that the environmental review would likely take six to nine months.

City leaders and staff said they would continue pursuing OPWC funding, additional federal earmarks, JobsOhio Ohio 629 grants, Ohio Department of Development funding and potential new community authority/TIF revenue to close the funding gap. They also said the city would continue to coordinate with developers on development concepts and capacity planning; staff estimated conservatively that development in the Southwest could yield about 6,000 jobs over time.

Council thanked staff for the visuals and asked staff to continue pursuing funding partners and to keep council updated as analyses — traffic, water/sewer capacity and environmental — progress.