Canfield Projects, Plans Updated at Regional Chamber Event
CANFIELD, Ohio -- The upcoming widening of the U.S. Route 224 bridge over state Route 11 here will cause unavoidable inconveniences, an Ohio Department of Transportation official acknowledged this morning, but the construction schedule hopefully will limit them, he said.
Jim Kinnick, planning and engineering administrator of ODOT District 4, outlined plans for the project at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber's Good Morning, Canfield breakfast.
The construction plans call for making the bridge five lanes wide by adding two lanes to westbound U.S. 224 and extending the left-turn lanes. On Raccoon Road, right- and left-turn lanes will be added in both directions. For the southbound Route 11 exit ramp, which exits to Fairgrounds Boulevard, an extra lane will be added, allowing for two left-turn lanes, a single lane leading to Fairgrounds Boulevard and a right-turn lane.
“On either side of the bridge, with those improvements, traffic is sure to move through easier,” he commented. “Unfortunately, there's going to be inconveniences with an improvement like this. Hopefully by containing this into one season, the inconveniences will only last one year.” The project is targeted for completion in October 2015, he said.
Alongside the bridge construction, the city of Canfield will be replacing the sidewalks from the city's eastern limits on U.S. 224 to the village green and fixing traffic signals.
“Some of those sidewalks are quite old [and] are quite literally tripping hazards. They're uneven at best. That'll be a nice major project,” Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr. said. “We'll also synchronize the stop lights so if you go the speed limit and you have those proper turning lanes, you'll be able to drive all the way through town without stopping.”
Approximately 19,000 cars go through Canfield daily, Kosar said. While that’s roughly a third of the traffic Boardman Township sees, it's still a high volume for such a small town.
“We'd like to get you through as quick as we can to make room for the guy behind you. If you have to turn into one of our businesses, we hope to have that turning lane and the ability to turn off the road,” he added.
ODOT’s Kinnick drew applause for an update on a project in that neighboring township, east on Route 224. After a year and a half of countless backups and frustrated drivers, the construction project at the U.S. Route 224/Interstate 680 interchange there should be completed by the end of next week, he reported.
Other road construction projects include widening Interstate 80 to three lanes in each direction for a six-mile stretch beginning at the state border. That section of road has a higher volume of semi trucks than any other in the state, Kinnick said.
“Of the people coming through there, it's 37% trucks, which is an incredible amount. It's a safety improvement as well as helping with the volumes [of traffic],” he noted. “The improvement is really needed. It's the corridor that runs from New York to Chicago.”
That project is expected to cost $110 million and last roughly 3.5 years.
A new exit on I-680 will be added at the state Route 164 overpass after construction is finished near Western Reserve Road, which will lessen the amount of traffic through the area.
“We think that when you move traffic away from the Western Reserve/680 area and move traffic south, we can improve the flow [on Western Reserve Road] and move people and cars to where they need to be,” Kinnick said.
There will be 33 construction projects in Mahoning County next year, he added.
Canfield Township Trustee Brian Governor commented that the township's six paving projects were completed on time and under budget. He added that the township has purchased a new snow plow while noting that salt use would be tightly regulated due to rising cost.
“Salt is at historic highs. It's gone up something like 500% and it's affecting all political subdivisions,” Governor said. “Everyone's scrambling to find where they can get salt, the cheapest place to buy it and, quite frankly, the state isn't helping much. We're working on it.”
Later that morning, ground was to be broken on the new Canfield branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. At the breakfast event, the library's executive director, Heidi Daniel, noted the new library would be 18,500 square feet, nearly triple the size of the current building scheduled for demolition. The new branch will feature an expanded kids and teen area along with a vastly expanded collection.
“We're going well beyond renovating,” Kosar said, noting that the new building would fit the city's historic architectural motif. “We've worked with the architect who's gone through great pains to put this 18,500-square-foot building in a neighborhood and not make it look like a big box. It's architecturally beautiful, in my opinion.”
Closing out the event was Canfield Local Schools Superintendent Alex Geordan, who announced his goal for the district to be ranked among the Top 10 in the state by 2017. Students will be tested more and teachers will fill out self-evaluations, something the teachers have been asking for, he said.
“We're going to be in the Top 10 be 2017,” he said. “I think we're going to beat that.”
Kosar said he admired the goal and if that goal is achieved, it can only improve the city.
“It's one thing to think in terms of the best of Mahoning County. I love that he's reaching for the moon,” he said. “They're doing a great job; I know teachers and I know the principals. I think it's just a good place to live, to educate your kids and go to school.”
Pictured: Shovels await use prior to the ceremonial ground breaking for the new Canfield Branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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