CORTLAND Project hearings set for December
The Cortland intersection has been the site of many accidents.
CORTLAND -- Public hearings on road projects in Cortland and champion are coming up soon.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will unveil a proposal to move the intersection of state Route 46 and McCleary-Jacoby Road.
The proposal will be aired at a public meeting Dec. 18, from 5 to 7 p.m., in Lakeview Middle School.
McCleary-Jacoby Road runs straight north from state Route 45, where the highway jogs northeast at a 45-degree angle.
"This is kind of a bad intersection," said Noel Mehlo Jr., an environmental specialist at the Ravenna ODOT office. "If you are on Jacoby Road heading south, it is hard to look for traffic on your left."
There have been 10 accidents at the intersection since 1993, said Paula Putnam, an ODOT spokeswoman.
Proposal: ODOT proposes putting a 90-degree bend in McCleary-Jacoby Road and moving the intersection with state Route 46 about 100 feet north.
The change would create a "regular" intersection, with McCleary-Jacoby Road hitting state Route 46 at a right angle, directly across from Westview Drive, Mehlo said.
Work is scheduled to begin in 2003 and could last about a year, Putnam said.
The project is estimated to cost ODOT $550,000.
ODOT will conduct a second public hearing Dec. 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the technology building at Kent State University-Trumbull on the proposed widening of state Route 45 from state Route 5 north to State Road in Champion Township.
There have been only minor engineering changes to the plan since it was first introduced to the public in September 2000, said Paula Putnam, an ODOT spokeswoman.
The estimated cost for the project, scheduled for 2004, is $2.3 million, she said.