This is the first in a multi-part series examining the potential long-term impact of the City of Mount Vernon’s State Route 13 relocation project.
MOUNT VERNON — The City of Mount Vernon received word March 29 that it will receive $3.3 million from the Ohio Department of Transportation for its State Route 13 relocation project.
The project, expected to cost nearly $10 million total, involves widening the Sandusky Street/Phillips Drive corridor and making it a two-way connector between West High Street and South Main Street. Northbound traffic will be rerouted from Gay Street and Public Square onto Sandusky Street.
The goal is to reduce traffic congestion and improve safety downtown by rerouting State Route 13 as it moves through the city. State funding will become available in July 2024, and the city will have three years to use it.
“We are not building an outerbelt. You will still be close to downtown, but the semi-truck drivers don’t want to drive through a major pedestrian area. It will reduce the number of intersections that customers have to pass through, thereby improving safety,” City Engineer Brian Ball previously told Knox Pages.
“The downtown can be frustrating for people passing through. It will shorten the length of Route 13, which is pretty rare that you can actually do that. At the end of the day, we will still have a business corridor and traffic will flow better.”
The project is expected to take pass-through traffic off of South Main Street, Gay Street and Public Square, and divert it to Sandusky Street – creating a quieter, safer, more pedestrian-friendly downtown core, while adding traffic to the district’s perimeter.
It’s an idea former Mayor Richard Mavis introduced in 1999, and current Mayor Matt Starr carried forward after his election in 2019.
“We are very fortunate to see a project carry over between two mayors,” Ball said.
After two-plus decades of planning, patience and persistence, city officials appear ready to complete the project in the coming years.
So, what might this mean for Mount Vernon long-term? What are the big-picture implications of a project like this – one designed to rethink the way people move through and interact with a city’s downtown district?
A series of stories published in the coming days will aim to answer those questions.
A map or some preliminary drawing of the plan would help residents better understand the city’s proposal.