Engineers support road widening

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A plan for a nearly $7.2 million project to improve traffic flow along state Route 170 in a busy commercial area north of East Liverpool has received a boost.
The proposal is being supported by Grow Mahoning Valley, an economic development entity whose members include the engineers of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties, Columbiana County Engineer Bert Dawson told commissioners Wednesday.
The group met earlier this week and ranked the Columbiana County proposal high on its list of needed public works projects, Dawson said.
The ranking means that Grow Mahoning Valley will lobby for federal funding for the project, he added.
The Ohio Department of Transportation already has earmarked $2.5 million for the undertaking, Dawson said.
If all goes well, construction could begin in the next year, he added.
Being proposed is widening from three lanes to five a nearly 1.2-mile section of state Route 170 east of state Route 11 in the St. Clair Township community of Calcutta.
Busy stretch
The stretch includes numerous businesses and is traveled by about 30,000 vehicles daily, Dawson said.
Also included in the project would be installation of new traffic signals, curbs and gutters, Dawson said.
In other business, commissioners agreed to aid families troubled by chronic lice infestations by approving a federally funded $50,000 contract between the county job and family services department and the county health department.
About 55 families in the county have members with lice and are having difficulty getting rid of it, explained job and family services director Eileen Dray-Bardon.
The contract will pay to bring in health experts to assess the problem, educate the family, treat affected family members and to have professionals clean the house to rid it of the vermin.