‘Logistics Lane’ Grant Aimed At Improving Safety
An $8.7 million federal grant announced January 25 is designed to prevent accidents between highway traffic and trucks that load and unload barges on the Ohio River near Marietta, Ohio.
Dubbed the “logistics lane,” the project was announced by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and the Ohio Department of Transportation on their websites.
The project involves constructing a grade separated crossing for County Road 10 (CR 10) and other improvements to Ohio State Route 7 (SR 7) along a two-mile section in Washington County. Additionally, it will help to improve the Central Ohio River Business Association’s Central Ohio River Information System (CORIS) to facilitate better movement of freight on barges and trucks along the river and will prepare the corridor for future smart mobility improvements, Brown’s office said.
“Today, we are taking important steps to improve road safety for Ohioans traveling on State Route 7 while ensuring barges on the Ohio River and trucks serving businesses in the corridor are able to keep commerce moving without disruption,” Brown said. “The Ohio River serves as a major logistics hub for communities across Ohio, and this investment will help attract new investment to the region.”
The project consists of three components:
• A grade separated crossing of SR 7 for CR 10 traffic, resulting in an increase in safety from a reduction in the number of access points along the SR 7 corridor and the conversion of other access points from all directions to right turn in/right turn out-only access. These measures will allow for the reconfiguration of CR 10 to eliminate interactions of public road traffic with material-handling vehicles moving across CR 10 from loading/unloading Ohio River barges to warehousing facilities on the opposite side of CR 10.
• Construction of infrastructure that can be used to facilitate future testing and deployment of smart mobility solutions targeted toward freight movement in the logistics lane corridor.
• Expansion of CORIS, a web-based application that displays individual port information along with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver network, allowing users to see boat movements on the Ohio River for scheduled deliveries. The proposal would extend coverage to the entire Ohio River corridor along Ohio’s southern border. The system currently provides coverage to the Ports of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
