LIBERTY Township official seeks help to preserve highway project

Liberty Township's administrator believes a united front is needed to save the highway.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Township administrator Patrick J. Ungaro is contacting area political leaders to help save the Hubbard Arterial Highway.
Ungaro sent letters Tuesday to Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey, Hubbard Mayor George Praznik and their city councils.
He asked them to approve resolutions of support in presenting a united front to the Ohio Department of Transportation's District 4 in an effort to keep the long-discussed highway a possibility.
Citing increased costs, ODOT said it's relinquishing its leadership role in the project Aug. 4. If another public entity doesn't assume that role, the project will be dead.
The highway, which has been discussed since at least 1956, would connect Albert Street on Youngstown's East Side to Bell-Wick Road in Hubbard Township and go on to Interstate 80.
In addition to its cost increasing from $45.3 million to $74 million over the years, ODOT said its focus has switched from building highways to spur development to targeting traffic congestion and safety.
Ungaro, Youngstown's former mayor, said he thinks ODOT decided not to fund the project because not all political leaders favored it.
Objections to project
During meetings with ODOT, some objected to the project because they didn't want industrial development on Youngstown's East Side.
Others believed it would increase traffic in the city of Hubbard and cause the loss of houses through demolition.
Ungaro is a member of the Transportation Review Advisory Council, which recommends where ODOT spends $300 million annually.
Ungaro said he will ask the council at its meeting July 24 that $3 million already set aside by ODOT be used to determine whether the highway, better known as the Hubbard Expressway, can be built.
"There is no guarantee," Ungaro asserted. "I want to keep it on the books."
yovich@vindy.com