Editor’s note: The City of Mount Vernon announced in March that it will receive $3.3 million from the Ohio Department of Transportation for its State Route 13 relocation project – an effort two decades in the making, aimed at reducing traffic congestion and increasing safety in downtown Mount Vernon.
Back in April, we looked at the ways this project would impact traffic flow downtown – examining which streets would become busier, and less busy, as a result. This week, we’ll consider the potential long-term implications of this project, and we’ll look ahead at what’s next.
MOUNT VERNON — Local leaders believe the city’s State Route 13 relocation project could lead to economic development along the state route itself, given the increase in traffic anticipated there.
They also believe it could transform the city’s downtown core, where traffic is expected to decrease.
By moving pass-through traffic – including semi-trucks and other freight-carrying vehicles – off of Public Square and other roadways in the city’s central business district, and onto an expanded and relocated Sandusky Street, local officials believe the project could make parts of downtown Mount Vernon safer, quieter and more walkable.
“It gets trucks and other pass-through traffic away from the downtown area, which then presents lots of opportunities for downtown,” Area Development Foundation (ADF) President Jeff Gottke said.
“Without the loud, smelly trucks moving up Gay Street, and without as many going around the square, that’s a more pleasant experience for downtown. It makes it a more desirable destination.”
Making downtown Mount Vernon more walkable is a part of the city’s strategic plan, which the ADF introduced and City Council approved in 2019. The long-term vision includes tightening Public Square, connecting the city’s bike trails to downtown, encouraging the utilization of downtown alleys and improving sidewalks, among other pedestrian-friendly measures.
Gottke believes the State Route 13 relocation project will complement those efforts.
“I’m mostly excited for the downtown impact, and how this will make it a more desirable and attractive area of the city. …” he said. “I think it will make (downtown) more pedestrian-friendly and it will make it more of a place where people would want to spend time outside.
“There are implications for outdoor dining opportunities, outdoor shopping, and if you recall, the downtown plan had some schematic renderings for what the square might look like if there was less traffic on it. I’m not saying those (plans) are going to happen, but removing truck traffic from the square creates that possibility, whereas now we don’t have it.”
Would reducing traffic on Gay Street, Public Square and other downtown thoroughfares hurt the businesses there, due to limited exposure? City Engineer Brian Ball doesn’t think so.
Most of the traffic that is projected to move is pass-through traffic, he said, or vehicles with people who would have stopped to engage in commerce anyway.
“Occasionally you will see a semi-truck park on Gay Street and run over and get a sandwich, but that is very rare,” Ball said.
“So the challenge with the semi-trucks is (they represent) traffic, but it’s not traffic that is able to commune with our downtown merchants. … We have two tire shops in the downtown area, and you’ll see a semi-truck parked outside and they’ll be getting a tire changed or something. Beyond that, it’s really difficult for them to conduct commerce – other than deliveries – in town.”
Gottke and Lacey Filkins, executive director of Experience Mount Vernon, echoed this point. Filkins said downtown merchants have reacted positively to the project so far.
“I think in the initial conversations I’ve had, I’ve heard from some of our merchants and they’re happy to hear less heavy traffic will be coming downtown,” Filkins said. “Trucks and people who are cutting through to get to Fredericktown, or who are coming from the north and live on the south side, are not going to stop downtown anyway.”
Filkins believes a safer, quieter, more walkable downtown would only benefit downtown merchants, as the streets they conduct commerce on would become more inviting to visitors and their families.
“We have a pretty walkable downtown as is, but with all the truck traffic around the square right now, it can be pretty tricky for people to cross the street, particularly during busy times of the day. This could have a positive impact on that,” she said.
“You’re rerouting traffic that’s not going to stop in our downtown anyway, and you’re making it more walkable – safer for pedestrians and families to shop and eat and be a part of our downtown setting, without having to worry about fast-moving vehicles moving around the square.”
The city’s State Route 13 relocation project could provide Mount Vernon with an opportunity to rethink its downtown, Filkins said. The central business district could become greener, cleaner and more welcoming, Filkins said, with the potential for additional green space and beautification efforts.
“I think (this project) maybe allows us to have more intentional vehicle traffic downtown,” Filkins said. “Folks coming to our downtown will want to be here. They’ll be coming here for a reason. They’ll be coming here to do banking; to eat lunch; to shop; instead of just passing through.
“The folks who are just passing through are always going to be passing through, but this allows for more intentionality here. It opens up some more parking that wouldn’t necessarily be there, and it maybe allows for more of that intentionality and encourages more pedestrians and bikes downtown, to increase that community feel.”
Next in this series, we’ll look at what it will take for the city to complete its State Route 13 relocation project – what the process will look like, how long it’s expected to take, and what the project’s completion is contingent upon.
SR 13 relocation: What are the long-term implications for downtown Mount Vernon?
“Most of the traffic that is projected to move is pass-through traffic, he said, or vehicles with people who would have stopped to engage in commerce anyway.”
Shouldn’t this read “NOT vehicles with people…”?
After running a business on N Main for a couple of years I can say that the drive-by traffic is 99% drive *through* traffic, or what I called drive “bye” traffic. Not to mention the constant road and drainage repairs that can shut you down for a week. Also, it’s near impossible to keep your storefront clean in route 13 because of all the carbon coming off the trucks. I am all for this construction. $3.3M seems like a bargain considering what it will do for our towns businesses in even the first 2 years.
or vehicles with people who would NOT have stopped to engage in commerce
Back in the 80s, Betty Winand said she was going to turn Mount Vernon into a retirement town. She bout did it. There was a beer company wanting to come into where Pittsburg Plate was. They said they didn’t want to have that in Mount Vernon. There was Dad’s Dog Food that wanted to come into the South end. They stopped that. 4000 jobs were stopped. There was talk of a bypass. That got stopped by the good ol boys of Mount Vernon. Now the town is trying to catch up. I lived in the West End. I got fed up with FEMA. The flood zone around the West End was an expensive joke. Our mortgage doubled. We had nowhere to turn. Like some people, we got fed up. So we sold our house and left town.
If you go to the ODOT website and look up the project prints Holmes tire will be eliminated so there will only be 1 tire shop down town.
https://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/2022TRACApplications/D05_01_KNO%2013_STATE%20ROUTE%2013%20RELOCATION_TRAC_APP.pdf
Allowing the relocation of State routes around cities may look like others where the businesses in downtown go out of business. New businesses can and will develop alongside the new proposed route and take the downtown business away. Dosen’t sound like a great deal for them. Take away from the little man and give it to the big businesses to move in and gut the city.