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Ed Moleski, from Nelsonville, is standing in front of his home on the block of old 33 in Nelsonville, Ohio on Mar. 27, 2014.

Crosstown Traffic

For the average Ohio University student rushing to get out of Athens, the Nelsonville bypass, said to shorten the trip north on Route 33 by at least 20 minutes, might be an obvious Godsend.

But for the people of Nelsonville, it’s much more complicated. The reaction to the loss of traffic, people and noise the old Route 33 brought through town is judged differently from person to person.

From the economy to a sense of community, several locals have expressed differing opinions about how the bypass has affected Nelsonville. It depends on where they live and how long they’ve been there.

Ed Moleski moved to Nelsonville from Glouster.

When the Nelsonville bypass diverted traffic from Moleski’s house, he was initially relieved. Before the bypass, Moleski’s home, where he has lived for 20 years, sat right beside the busy Route 33. Now it’s a “really rough road” that does meet up with the highway, though most people don’t use it — just a few large trucks whose drivers probably don’t know they can use the bypass instead, he said.

“The town is about dried up,” Moleski said. “There is no noise now, but trucks still come down this way.”

Moleski said the only personal drawback to having a quiet street is he can no longer profit from a yard sale, but Moleski believes the bypass has had a more significant effect on local businesses.

Ten years ago, Moleski’s neighbor had a ceramic shop next door that was always busy. Now, he said it is difficult to get renters in the building.

A perk: Now that Moleski’s road has less traffic, he tells his guests they do not have to worry when they leave his driveway.

“You can just back out in the road,” he said. “There ain’t no traffic.”

Mary Gibbons-Mize grew up in the center of Nelsonville.

She said she has always felt a strong tie to the community.

“It will always be my hometown and I love it,” Gibbons-Mize said.

Growing up, Gibbons-Mize lived right in the center of town. She recalled when she was a child her family lived so close to the old Route 33 that large trucks passing shook the windows in their home.

With the addition of the bypass, Gibbons-Mize, a faculty member at OU, said it is much easier to navigate through town. She thinks the bypass has helped the citizens of Nelsonville.

Hocking College and local businesses keep up a human presence around town. Tourist attractions like Lake Hope and Stuart’s Opera House do, too, and bigger businesses like Rocky Brands Inc. are still around.

Gibbons-Mize said she believes many of the businesses that have recently closed in Nelsonville were unrelated to the bypass. She believes a lot of Nelsonville’s revenue comes from the locals instead of the traffic from out of town.

“Some people will always want to blame the bypass for the changes happening in the community,” Gibbons-Mize said, adding, in reality, she thinks the bypass makes the community feel more tight-knit and safe.

“There are fewer strangers in town now and it may get back to a more hometown feel,” she said.

Andrea Adams also grew up in Nelsonville.

Adams, too, feels as though Nelsonville is a very close community.

“Everyone knows your name here,” she said. “It is very Mulberry-esque.”

The bypass has made the town less congested in Adams’s opinion. She thinks more people might be willing to come to town because it is easier and faster to get there now. The road is well marked and anyone passing through before, Adams believes, will still continue to come into town.

Adams, who now lives just outside of Nelsonville, believes the weaker businesses have left town since the insertion of the bypass, but the stronger businesses have survived.

“There are no longer redundant businesses in town, and the surviving businesses have a loyal customer base,” Adams said.

In the summer of 2012, Adams worked as an intern with the Ohio Department of Transportation to monitor the progress of the bypass during construction. She helped make sure everything was going as planned.

“It was a cool experience,” Adams said, “to get insider perspective as a local from an idea in everyone’s head to becoming a part of the work.”

Chris Payne works in Nelsonville.

Payne initially assumed the bypass would change Nelsonville drastically, but he says that hasn’t been the case.

“I would say that if it weren’t for the absence of a semi passing every few minutes, I wouldn’t say I notice a difference in traffic or in the number of offerings and businesses Nelsonville has,” said Payne, who works at Rocky Brands.

Payne went on to say the local businesses he frequents haven’t changed either. The major difference that he noticed was the decrease of gas stations in the area.

“I think that the bypass has shown that Nelsonville isn’t just a place to stop and get gas,” he said, “but a self-sustaining Southeast Ohio town that is full of local businesses the people of Nelsonville support.”

hh337106@ohiou.edu

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