Dearborn County is the 10th fastest growing county in the state of Indiana, yet economic development opportunities there and in surrounding counties in southeastern Indiana are limited by the inability of US 50 to handle current traffic volumes effectively and safely.

The 18-mile-long corridor has more than 400 existing access points, a number of ill-defined or ill-placed commercial driveways, and numerous conflict points that are exacerbated by two stretches of a continuous center left-turn lane.

A committed new bridge over Tanners Creek and ongoing commercial development and redevelopment throughout the corridor also dictates the need to improve mobility and safety in the corridor, to eliminate congestion, and to create more functional land development. All of those improvements will benefit the jurisdictions in Dearborn County, southeastern Indiana, and the Greater Cincinnati region.

The Dearborn County Commissioners and the Dearborn County Council funded The Southeastern Indiana Gateway: US 50 Transportation and Land Use Plan (“US 50 Gateway Plan”). The US 50 Gateway Plan was completed in cooperation with a concurrent Indiana DOT-sponsored environmental assessment of the same corridor.

The goals of the study were to:

• Improve safety
• Improve mobility
• Create functional development patterns

The US 50 Gateway Plan also analyzed access to US 50 and ways to incorporate accepted access management practices. The US 50 Gateway Plan complemented INDOT’s EA study by further engaging stakeholders and allowing the community more opportunities for input during the planning process.

The US 50 Gateway Plan recommends two overall activities: creation of a non-governing but engaged US 50 Corridor Collaborative of officials from Dearborn County, Greendale, Lawrenceburg, Aurora and Dillsboro to assure consistency and sustainability along the US 50 Corridor; and adoption by each jurisdiction of the Plan’s conceptual zoning recommendations and access management regulations developed by INDOT.

In addition, the Plan contains a number of recommendations for the corridor’s four sections. Those section-specific recommendations can be implemented in the short term or over time as development and redevelopment opportunities are presented.

The US 50 Gateway Plan was adopted by the Dearborn County Commissioners and the OKI Executive Committee.

Email Travis Miller at OKI or call him at 513-619-7681 with comments or questions about this plan.