LISBON Work set to begin on state Route 45 projects
Vehicles turning into and pulling out of area businesses were creating a traffic hazard.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Construction is expected to start later this spring on a project aimed at improving traffic flow and reducing vehicle accidents on the village's north side.
Crews are moving utility lines to make way for the project, which will affect a section of state Route 45, known as Market Street, in the village.
The federally funded, state-administered job is expected to cost about $1.6 million, said Becky McCarty of the Ohio Department of Transportation's District 11 office in New Philadelphia.
It will take about five months. Traffic will be maintained during construction.
Changes: Plans call for widening a more than a half-mile section of state Route 45 to allow for installation of a turning lane. The affected road is bordered on both sides by businesses.
Motorists pulling from parking lots onto the highway, or waiting to turn left into businesses, pose a traffic hazard, ODOT officials said. The turning lane is expected to alleviate that hazard.
The area has been determined to be a high-accident area, although figures on the number of accidents there weren't available, a state official said.
Also planned is installation of traffic signals at the two points where Saltwell Road intersects Route 45.
The traffic signals will be set up so that they change simultaneously.
Street curbs and storm-water sewer lines also will be installed, McCarty said.