Morse Road Special Improvement District

I've been working at a different location the past couple weeks, and as a result have had the chance to drive a commute I typically don't. My drive twice a day has been the vast stretch of Morse Road, from about 270 all the way till it dead ends into High St. I haven't been down Morse past about Cleveland Ave for the better part of two years, so all the construction threw me off.

Starting at Cleveland Ave, there's all sorts of stuff going on. Looks like they're tearing up sidewalks, putting in retaining walls, redoing turning lanes and medians. Drive a little further down, you see trees all wrapped in canvas sitting next to holes dug between the road and the sidewalks. Move East to West along Morse, it's easy to see to progression of the project and I'd say it's looking pretty good where they've finished.

I see a banner hanging from a (new looking) street light, near the junction with I-71, that stated simple "Morse Road Special Improvement District." Needless to say, I had to Google this to find out more.

I found out from Business First of Columbus that a group of property owners along more from Indianola Ave to Cleveland Ave grouped together to form a Special Improvement District. Under Ohio law, it's an area where the residents effectively form a non-profit organization to help maintain and improve on their common areas where the local government isn't willing or able to.

I also discovered a story from the Columbus Dispatch dated August of 2008 about the start of the 2nd phase of the Morse Rd improvement project...essentially, $18 million was spent on infrastructure including reworking sidewalks and laying utility pipes. I wasn't able to locate any stories more recent than this... apparently further judgement/interest is being withheld until the project wraps up (which it seems pretty close to doing).

Seems pretty nice...a pretty good effort, and a definite facelift for the area. The next question (and one that's been asked for the last 2-3 years apparently) is whether or not it will help fill the empty store fronts all along Morse Road. Hmmm...