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Interstate 75 becomes area’s new Main Street

Growth along corridor surges in a slow economy

Mike Robinette (left), Middletown's economic development director, talks with Greg Martin, president of Greg Martin Excavating Inc., at the construction site of the new VA Health Clinic being built near the Atrium Medical Center. Despite an economy slump, development continues apace along the Interstate 75 between Dayton and Cincinnati. Staff photo by Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart/Staff Mike Robinette (left), Middletown's economic development director, talks with Greg Martin, president of Greg Martin Excavating Inc., at the construction site of the new VA Health Clinic being built near the Atrium Medical Center. Despite an economy slump, development continues apace along the Interstate 75 between Dayton and Cincinnati. Staff photo by Chris Stewart

ENLARGE PHOTO

Illustration of how development has boomed along the I-75 corridor between Dayton and Cincinnati

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 11:28 PM Saturday, March 20, 2010

Want to lose those economic blues? Drive south on Interstate 75 between Dayton and Cincinnati.

From the new Austin Pike interchange down to bustling Union Centre in West Chester, the I-75 corridor has seen $1.2 billion in development just in the last two years. Helping fuel that boom is more than $250 million in road improvements.

The reasons cited may sound familiar if you’ve ever talked to a real estate agent: location, location, location.

“Many companies view Southwest Ohio as one big labor market,” said Joe Tuss, Montgomery County’s economic development director. “They want access to the largest work force they can.”

As the region’s new Main Street, I-75 provides access on a grand scale. With Dayton and Cincinnati suburbs melding into one, the fastest population growth is occurring between the cities. Once mostly rural, Butler and Warren counties now have a combined population greater than Montgomery County, census figures show.

Location also means access to bigger markets. The prime development area along the Dayton-Cincinnati corridor is at the nexus of three major highways (I-75, I-71 and I-70) and within 125 miles of several major cities and airports including Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis.

“Businesses want to locate in the most efficient markets, and the I-75 corridor is proof,” said Mark Policinski of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. Nearly half of all jobs (47 percent) from Warren County to the Ohio River fall within three miles of I-75, an OKI study found.

The Ohio 63 interchange has seen the biggest share of development — $350 million in two years, said Middletown economic development director Mike Robinette. The recession slowed that growth, he said, “but we continue to have a lot of interest.”

All told, $1.5 billion in road improvements are under way along I-75 between I-70 and the Ohio River — a stunning investment in infrastructure that will prime the area around the corridor for economic recovery, said Kimm Coyner, Warren County’s development chief.

“We have the access and the space,” Coyner said.

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