'Fixing Hillsboro' through infrastructure
Lead Summary
By
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By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist
"Fixing Hillsboro" is an audacious statement from someone who moved away in 1968. However, you can – hopefully – tell from my continued involvement that Hillsboro is often in my thoughts.
Recently on Facebook, there has been much lamenting about the demolition of the former Parker Hotel. This has led to discussions about the loss of other landmarks and the general economic malaise that seems to be around town these days.
People have to have jobs – good-paying jobs – in order to provide for themselves and their families. It is elementary. Good jobs can be available where you are or you will have to leave and find them elsewhere.
Many people, like me, have left. Others have stayed, often accepting subsistence wages in order to do so. A third path today is to work remotely via the internet. Two of my colleagues in one of my companies live in Highland County and do this.
Remote working seems to be an idea that is catching on and just perhaps the coronavirus will push it along a little harder.
Still, we need things that are manufactured, grown or processed and that takes manufacturing facilities. There aren’t many of these in Hillsboro or Highland County.
You can’t open enough pizza shops, convenience stores or beds-and-breakfasts to maintain a town. On the retail front, people first blamed Walmart, now Amazon, for the demise of local retailers. These conditions are not going to be turned back.
The decay in local towns across the country is hierarchical. When I was a kid, Marshall had two general stores (with gas pumping service) and three churches. Now, most come to the “big city” of Hillsboro to do their shopping. Same for many other villages throughout the county, as people have become more mobile, they go to large places, relatively speaking, where there are more choices, relatively speaking.
Hillsboro suffers from this as compared to places bigger than it is. It is quite easy to get to the big shopping choices in Clermont County, for instance. Some boaters would perhaps rather go to the Ohio River than Rocky Fork Lake.
Another small midwestern town where I spend time is Tell City, Ind. Like Hillsboro, it is far off the beaten path (it is about 20 miles to I-64). Tell City has at least two things going for it, though. First, it is in a scenic spot on the Ohio River. Secondly, just across the river in Kentucky are major industries within easy commute. Both things that Hillsboro lacks.
Hillsboro needs highway access in order to attract substantial manufacturers. City and county administrators have been asleep for decades when it comes to fixing this problem. Back in the 1960s, the Appalachian Highway (Route 32) was developed as a decent route to get across southern Ohio. It missed Hillsboro, but provided Highland County with its only mile of four-lane highway (without even an exit) in the far southwestern reaches. That is not enough.
It is unlikely another east-west highway improvement will incorporate Hillsboro. It just isn’t needed. Hillsboro’s best bet is a north-south corridor. It will take a couple of decades, but if the government officials had started a couple of decades ago, we would have had it by now.
Here is how to do it. Capitalize on the Route 73 four lane that was built around Wilmington by extending it to Hillsboro, or as a Hillsboro bypass on the west side (south of New Vienna, follow Mad River Road). This is phase 1.
Phase 2 would extend from Mad River Road to U.S. 62, going all the way to Ripley. Phase 3 would be a four-lane improvement on U.S. 68, from Route 73 north of Wilmington to U.S. 35 at Xenia. The final phase is improving U.S. 52 from Ripley to Aberdeen. Now you have a four-lane highway from Dayton to Maysville, Ky., a north-south road in an area poorly serviced today.
The biggest beneficiary in this routing is Hillsboro, for every other city along this path has decent east-west highway service now.
People my age will certainly never see this accomplished. However, if the appropriate officials start today, it is just possible that the elementary age children in Hillsboro today will have a chance at decent local manufacturing jobs by the time they are in their 20s.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.
HCP columnist
"Fixing Hillsboro" is an audacious statement from someone who moved away in 1968. However, you can – hopefully – tell from my continued involvement that Hillsboro is often in my thoughts.
Recently on Facebook, there has been much lamenting about the demolition of the former Parker Hotel. This has led to discussions about the loss of other landmarks and the general economic malaise that seems to be around town these days.
People have to have jobs – good-paying jobs – in order to provide for themselves and their families. It is elementary. Good jobs can be available where you are or you will have to leave and find them elsewhere.
Many people, like me, have left. Others have stayed, often accepting subsistence wages in order to do so. A third path today is to work remotely via the internet. Two of my colleagues in one of my companies live in Highland County and do this.
Remote working seems to be an idea that is catching on and just perhaps the coronavirus will push it along a little harder.
Still, we need things that are manufactured, grown or processed and that takes manufacturing facilities. There aren’t many of these in Hillsboro or Highland County.
You can’t open enough pizza shops, convenience stores or beds-and-breakfasts to maintain a town. On the retail front, people first blamed Walmart, now Amazon, for the demise of local retailers. These conditions are not going to be turned back.
The decay in local towns across the country is hierarchical. When I was a kid, Marshall had two general stores (with gas pumping service) and three churches. Now, most come to the “big city” of Hillsboro to do their shopping. Same for many other villages throughout the county, as people have become more mobile, they go to large places, relatively speaking, where there are more choices, relatively speaking.
Hillsboro suffers from this as compared to places bigger than it is. It is quite easy to get to the big shopping choices in Clermont County, for instance. Some boaters would perhaps rather go to the Ohio River than Rocky Fork Lake.
Another small midwestern town where I spend time is Tell City, Ind. Like Hillsboro, it is far off the beaten path (it is about 20 miles to I-64). Tell City has at least two things going for it, though. First, it is in a scenic spot on the Ohio River. Secondly, just across the river in Kentucky are major industries within easy commute. Both things that Hillsboro lacks.
Hillsboro needs highway access in order to attract substantial manufacturers. City and county administrators have been asleep for decades when it comes to fixing this problem. Back in the 1960s, the Appalachian Highway (Route 32) was developed as a decent route to get across southern Ohio. It missed Hillsboro, but provided Highland County with its only mile of four-lane highway (without even an exit) in the far southwestern reaches. That is not enough.
It is unlikely another east-west highway improvement will incorporate Hillsboro. It just isn’t needed. Hillsboro’s best bet is a north-south corridor. It will take a couple of decades, but if the government officials had started a couple of decades ago, we would have had it by now.
Here is how to do it. Capitalize on the Route 73 four lane that was built around Wilmington by extending it to Hillsboro, or as a Hillsboro bypass on the west side (south of New Vienna, follow Mad River Road). This is phase 1.
Phase 2 would extend from Mad River Road to U.S. 62, going all the way to Ripley. Phase 3 would be a four-lane improvement on U.S. 68, from Route 73 north of Wilmington to U.S. 35 at Xenia. The final phase is improving U.S. 52 from Ripley to Aberdeen. Now you have a four-lane highway from Dayton to Maysville, Ky., a north-south road in an area poorly serviced today.
The biggest beneficiary in this routing is Hillsboro, for every other city along this path has decent east-west highway service now.
People my age will certainly never see this accomplished. However, if the appropriate officials start today, it is just possible that the elementary age children in Hillsboro today will have a chance at decent local manufacturing jobs by the time they are in their 20s.
Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He may be reached at jthompson@taii.com.