MAHONING COUNTY Bridge offers hope to draw industries

The project site stretches from Youngstown through Campbell and Struthers.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal grant of nearly $2 million could help build a bridge between Youngstown's economic past and future, officials say.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded $1.8 million to Mahoning County for a new bridge to connect Walton Avenue, where Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers come together, and an abandoned brownfield site just across the Mahoning River in Campbell.
The money will be combined with a $550,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development and $700,000 of local matching funds, said Commissioner Ed Reese.
Missing link
The bridge will be a long-missing link between Youngstown and the 1,400-acre stretch of brush and concrete. For the past few years, it has been known as the Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity.
The site sits along the banks of the Mahoning River, straddling the borders of Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers. It was once the site of the third-largest steel producing center in the country, Reese said.
Officials have tried and failed several times to develop the property. The problem, said Struthers Mayor Daniel Mamula, has always been a lack of access.
Bridge gone
A bridge that once connected the property to Youngstown was torn down many years ago, said Sarah Lown of the county's special projects office. The only way in and out now is a dilapidated trestle bridge that's just east of where the new span will be.
Mamula and Reese said the county's attempts to secure federal grants were rebuffed twice before. Only when the county was able to put up the matching funds, generated with sales tax revenue, was the grant application approved, they said.
A master plan for development of the corridor is near completion, Mamula said. When it's finished, he said, he expects the plan to project the creation of some 8,000 jobs in the area over about a 20-year period.
The grant, and resulting $3 million bridge, were critical in making that happen.
"Everything has to start with a first step," Mamula said. "This is a major hurdle to get past."
The bridge will begin at the end of Walton Avenue, stretch over the river and some railroad tracks, and end at an unimproved gravel roadway in Campbell.
Improving the road
Mamula said Campbell officials have already started taking steps to improve that road, which will allow access through the property to speed development.
The next step will be to develop access to Interstate 680 off Shirley Road, Mamula said.
Reese said he's especially proud to have helped land money for development of the site. His father and grandfather worked at the steel mills that once thrived there.
"It hurts me to drive by there and see nothing going on," he said. "Hopefully this will breathe some new life into that area."
bjackson@vindy.com