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Journal Opinion
"224: Can Anything Be Done?Boardman Township has been Mahoning County's commercial center since the Southern Park Mall opened in 1970. Commercial development along its U.S. Route 224 corridor, which began when the Boardman Plaza went up in the early 1950s, increased steadily ever since, then exploded in the early 1990s with the development of the Shops at Boardman Park and neighboring projects.Today big-box retailers, restaurants, office buildings and strip plazas line the Boardman segment of 224 and its side streets. The volume of traffic is such that at its worst we are reminded of Manhattan at rush hour. Nor is the flow of traffic the only problem -- the resultant congestion makes the five-lane road increasingly unsafe. Everyone -- Boardman Township trustees, Ohio Department of Transportation, and especially those who travel 224 -- have long been well aware there's a problem, and various programs have been initiated, including co-ordinating the traffic signals and building more drop-right lanes. These alleviate some of the symptoms but a comprehensive long-term solution has been absent. Until now, the money just hasn't been available to conduct a study of the scope needed, says William Barlow, a project manager with Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. Eastgate and the state of Ohio are funding the safety and congestion study. "We will see how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together," Barlow says, with an eye toward improving both by 2020. A traffic count conducted in 2002 found 32,000 vehicles a day travel Route 224, and Barlow projects that number increases by 15% to 20% during the holiday shopping season. A citizens committee met in Boardman early this month to offer suggestions for the study and heard again tales of trips lasting a half hour, and longer, to cover the five miles from Tippecanoe Road to Interstate 680. They are the norm this time of year.Long-time residents of the neighborhoods, while pleased to see problem get attention, can't be described as optimistic -- especially those living on side streets much more traveled as impatient drivers seek alternatives to 224. The ODOT study could develop a solution that's both affordable and that works, but we suspect what's affordable will prove inadequate and what would work will come with a prohibitive price tag. Instead we'll be reminded of measures that should have been taken at least two decades ago but weren't because no laws or zoning regulations required them. Which brings us to the root of the problem -- the township form of government that is disfunctional for an entity the size of Boardman. But for that to change, state law must change, and we see no signs of any member of the Mahoning Valley's legislative delegation leading the charge.Happy holidays. At you sit stalled in traffic, remember, lower taxes and less government have their price."