The man had questions. He was staring at a map showing where a widened Rt. 62 could cut into his front yard on the northeast side of New Albany.
He wanted to know how deep it might go into his lawn, and after some quick calculations determined it could be up to 25 feet, which gave him pause.
Another man, who lives closer to Johnstown, looked for his house on another map to try to determine how close one of two possible new routes for Clover Valley Road might come to his house. A Licking County study of a possible new corridor for Clover Valley Road is separate but related to the Rt. 62 widening proposal.
And all of the roadwork is directly related to the growth and development in the New Albany International Business Park and surrounding areas of western Licking County.
| Read more: ODOT plans Rt. 161 widening project between New Albany and Granville; construction slated for 2029
The two men were among about 100 people who attended an open house the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) hosted in New Albany on Thursday morning, Jan. 29, to present options for widening 6.2 miles of Rt. 62 from Smith’s Mill Road in New Albany to Clark Drive in Johnstown.
Generally, the current two-lane, 50-foot wide roadway would at least double in width to 101 feet to accommodate two lanes in each direction with a raised median between the four lanes and a walking path on each side of the roadway. Portions of the roadway in New Albany would widen to 137 feet, as proposed, with a bike lane and a “leisure path” on each side.
Key differences between two options presented for each of four segments of the Rt. 62 corridor were how to handle intersections. One option leans more heavily toward roundabouts, and the other uses more traditional traffic signals.
Engineers and ODOT officials at the event said it’s possible – based in part on public comments – that the final recommendations could include a mix of both types of intersections and that the path and configuration of the roadway could change from what was presented on the draft maps at the open house.
A second open house to take comments from area residents is being held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 29 at the Church of the Resurrection, 6300 E. Dublin Granville Road in New Albany. And ODOT will take comments online for the next 30 days on the project’s web page, or by contacting Erin Sheidlower, project manager, at 614-387-4002, or by email at erin.sheidlower@dot.ohio.gov.
“There have been a lot of questions about the timeline,” Sheidlower said during the morning open house.
Next steps are a draft feasibility study, then project design, and then a plan for doing the work in phases based mainly on availability of funding, she said.
| Read more: ODOT proposals for Rt. 37 corridor include roundabouts and turn lanes to improve safety and traffic flow
The first phase of the Rt. 62 widening is likely to be in a stretch between Central College Road and Tippet Road where The New Albany Company has development planned in the near future, Sheidlower said.
The eastbound exit from Rt. 161 leads to a Rt. 62 that narrows from five lanes to two just northeast of New Albany. 
Segment 1 is closest to New Albany. 
Segment two could include three roundabouts. 
Segment 3 could include two roundabouts. 
Segment 4 is the one closest to Johnstown. 
Within the “segment 4” proposals are these breakout proposals for ways to deal with the intersections of Rt. 62 and Duncan Plains and Clover Valley roads. 
Rt. 62 could double in width from about 50 feet currently to more than 100 feet. 
Portions of Rt. 62 in New Albany could be as wide as 137 feet to include bike and walking paths. 
Mike Avellano, of the Woolpert engineering and design firm, explains conceptual possibilities for creating a new path for Clover Valley Road north of Green Chapel Road. The project being considered by Licking County would take Clover Valley Road around a convoluted intersection that currently includes Rt. 62, Duncan Plains Road and Clover Valley Road. 
Some houses along Rt. 62 are close to the current two-lane road. It’s unclear at this point how much closer a widened roadway would come to those houses. Some could be in the path of future widening projects.
“It won’t be one large project,” said Morgan Eible, an ODOT public information officer. “It will be broken into several projects, with funding being the number one reason.”
| Read more: Licking County residents swarm ODOT open house for details of possible connector between I-70 and Rt. 161/37/16
Other factors include the need to address congestion and improve safety in specific sections of the Rt. 62 corridor, which ODOT describes as “a principal arterial and critical backbone of the transportation network surrounding the New Albany Manufacturing District and is vital to supporting new economic growth in central Ohio.”
Sheidlower also said that some open-house visitors who own property along the route asked about property values, which she said would be addressed during the next open house on the project, which will be sometime in the spring.
While there was no formal presentation during the open house, large maps with detailed drawings of segments of the 6.2-mile section of Rt. 62 were set up on easels. Visitors were invited to study the drawings, ask questions of staff members from the Columbus engineering firm of Burgess & Niple that drew up the proposals based on input from stakeholders, and offer feedback in writing while at the open house or to go online and submit their comments.
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.