WARREN Panel supports proposal for road

About 300 senior citizens signed a petition opposing removal of a traffic light.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city's traffic commission supports development of an access road that directs truck traffic around a neighborhood.
At a meeting Wednesday, commission members voted to write a letter of support to city officials.
The city initially wanted to install an access road from behind Concord Steel and Alcoa onto Bronze Road, but that would cross over the Ohio Central Railroad tracks.
The railroad wants another route because of safety concerns. When a tractor-trailer is stopped at the stop sign for the access road, a portion of the rig would hang over the tracks.
The railroad instead proposed an access road parallel with the tracks that lead to Larchmont Avenue. William Totten, director of the engineering, planning and building department, said the railroad will allow the city to put in an access road if there's enough room.
Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, a traffic commission member, said people in the neighborhood worry about children's safety because of the number of cars traveling through and because of truck traffic.
Trucks try to turn from Larchmont onto Martha and can't make the turn, Novak said.
He also worries about community development block grant money allocated for the project.
If it's not used, the city runs the risk that will be allocated to another project.
Because the alternative route that's been proposed is longer than the initial road discussed, additional funds also will be needed, Novak said.
Seniors' request
Commission members also heard from Councilwoman Virginia Bufano, D-1st, also a commission member, who received a petition from 300 residents of a Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority senior citizen high-rise.
The residents oppose removal of a traffic light at Buckeye Street and Tod Avenue N.W. near the high-rise. Stop signs are to be erected on Buckeye Street.
Seniors cross at that intersection to go to the drugstore, restaurants, grocery stores and church.
"How do you take out a light that allows them to cross the street?" she said.
The light is one of 27 in the city to be removed as part of a state-administered $3 million project in the works for several years to update and synchronize the city's signals and improve traffic flow.
The lights are being removed because they don't meet Ohio Department of Transportation criteria, which include vehicle volume, school crossings, number of accidents, progressive movement and minimum pedestrian volume.
Because the project is administered by the state, the city can't change it.
"If we would put that light back, it would be an unneeded light and that would be against the law," Totten said.
denise.dick@vindy.com