A small volume of traffic as well as geographical barriers may hinder the region’s economy.
Mother Nature is working against Athens County—at least when it comes to economics.
Southeast Ohio stands alone as the only portion of the state lacking a major highway, which may explain why the area lags behind economically.
For as much as transportation infrastructure lags behind, geographic obstacles such as the Hocking Hills are every bit as a hindrance, said Ron Neuhauser, the Transportation Administrator for the Ohio Department of Transportation in Hocking County.
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No one knows why that matters more than State Senator Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville.
“As someone who travels around Southeast Ohio for my job, I put 120,000 miles on my car in two years,” Gentile said. “Infrastructure has always been a challenge for our part of Ohio. Sometimes it’s quicker to get from Steubenville to Columbus than it is to go from Steubenville to Athens.”
A four-lane highway could attract growth in the retail sector and spark the economy, Gentile said.
But that hypothetical highway isn’t a realistic endeavor, Neuhauser said.
“It probably would help the economy, but it would never happen,” he said. “There are too many geographic barriers like Hocking Hills and national forests.”
In addition to the natural challenges, he said the volume of traffic isn’t significant enough to warrant a major infrastructure project, such as a new interstate highway.
The only roadway in the county averaging 21,000 to 24,550 vehicles per day is the stretch of U.S. Route 33 between Athens and The Plains, according to the Athens County Annual Average Daily Traffic report from 2012. The span of roadway is roughly four miles long.
On State Route 32/U.S. Route 50, the typical volume of daily traffic varies from 3,500 to 21,000 vehicles, depending on the stretch of roadway. The majority of the route averages 7,000 to 14,000 vehicles.
Even if drivers were to complain about the travel times around the area, Gary Coombes, an Ohio University professor in the College of Business, said the transportation department has already tried shortening the average drive time throughout the region.
He acknowledged the bypass around Nelsonville on Route 33 has saved drivers time, but it also has hurt the Nelsonville economy.
Ray Leard, owner of Purely American, a food distribution company, relocated from Norfolk, Va. to Athens to help strengthen his business while lowering general costs.
“I don’t know why more businesses don’t move here,” Leard said. “There isn’t a whole lot that isn’t here.”
Leard decided to relocate to Athens because it was geographically central in comparison with Virginia. Now, he said that he’s two days away from two-thirds of the U.S. population.
“We’re close enough to any major highway,” he said. “A lot of businesses go to Columbus, but Athens has cheap land, cheap labor and it’s close to the university.”
To his knowledge, Leard and Purely American have been the only business to relocate to Athens as opposed to a larger urban area, but he said the decision was smart financially.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
