BOARDMAN Work set for part of road

It's the second time the road has been closed for the widening project.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A portion of a busy Boardman Township road will close again next week because of an ongoing $3.26 million construction project.
Starting Monday, Western Reserve Road will be barricaded between Tippecanoe and Hitchcock roads. The closure will allow crews to work on widening and upgrading the intersection of Western Reserve and New Buffalo Road, said Marilyn Kenner, chief deputy Mahoning County engineer.
Crews will cut down a hill to improve motorists' sight distance at the junction.
Kenner said Western Reserve will be closed for about 45 days. Traffic will be detoured along Detwiler Road, state Route 165 and Sharrott Road. The road will be open to local traffic so people can get to their homes, but no one will be able to get through the intersection, Kenner said.
Improvements
The county is improving the two-mile section of Western Reserve between Tippecanoe and Hitchcock. Traffic lanes will be widened from 9 feet to 12 feet, with 3-foot-wide shoulders on each side of the road.
Turning lanes and new traffic signals will be added at Hitchcock and at Tippecanoe. A.P. O'Horo Construction of Youngstown is the general contractor.
It's the second time within seven months that the same stretch of Western Reserve has been closed because of the widening project. In September 2003, the road closed for about three months while crews replaced a bridge over Mill Creek, just west of the Ohio Turnpike overpass.
Kenner said the overall project is about 45 percent finished, and is scheduled for completion sometime in the fall. The road will close one more time before the work is done, but she was not sure when that will be.
In an unrelated project, Hitchcock Road will be closed Tuesday between Deer Path and Green Garden Drive in Boardman Township while county crews replace a culvert. That project should be completed in one day.
bjackson@vindy.com