WESTERN RESERVE ROAD Construction delays bring frustration

Officials say wet weather is to blame.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Residents and business owners along Western Reserve Road say recent road construction is unbearable and no one is working to get the job done.
Western Reserve Road has been closed for several weeks so crews can widen and upgrade the intersection of Western Reserve and New Buffalo roads. Traffic lanes between Tippecanoe and Hitchcock will also be widened from 9 feet to 12 feet with 3-foot-wide shoulders on each side of the road.
Mahoning County Engineer Dick Marsico said the work had been scheduled to be finished in November.
He noted that crews have been unable to consistently work on the road, but he still hopes to have the road open to some vehicle traffic in late August or early September.
Marsico could not say exactly when the project will be finished, but added that county officials are "encouraging" contractors to complete the work by late November. Weather delays could still push that date back, he said.
Some residents have said that they have seen no work being done to the road in weeks, and that a completion date in the near future doesn't seem likely. Some business owners say the blocked-off road has caused a loss in profits.
Cites drop in business
Theresa Augustine is a Western Reserve Road resident and owns Nails to Tails, which is located behind her home, She said the road closing is responsible for an 80 percent drop in her pet grooming business.
"My business is suffering because of this and nobody cares," she said. "Something has got to be done."
Augustine said her business received a great number of customers who were driving by and noticed the large outside sign. With the road closed off, she said, no one sees the sign.
She noted that even established customers have canceled appointments. She said employees have taken calls from customers calling from cell phones while waiting at the barricaded road entrance unable to get through.
Augustine said the road closing has also caused problems in her personal life and that of her neighbors. A school bus could not get down the road and was forced to return children living on the road to school, she said. Parents had to pick up their children from school that day.
Hugh Braham, supervisor of Boardman schools transportation, said the bus had no way to get down the road and no prior notification that it would be blocked. He said school officials called parents to inform them of the situation.
Deliveries take longer
Judy Bott, office manager at Elliot's Nursery and Garden Center on Western Reserve Road, said she understands that the work must be done, but wishes it could be done a lot faster. She said the closed road has had an adverse effect on Elliot's business.
Bott said that since the road closed, customers have been calling for alternate directions. With Shields Road also closed for construction, the calls have increased, she said.
"It's ridiculous, just utterly ridiculous," she said. "This has made it very difficult for our deliveries on anything going west. What would normally take 20 minutes to Canfield, now you're talking 40 minutes."
Bott, like Augustine, wonders why the project is taking so long to complete and why contractors are seen on the road only sporadically.
Engineer's response
Marsico said contractors have not been seen working consistently for one reason -- the weather. He said contractors would need several days of dry weather to accomplish anything on the road.
"We have been after the contractor to work when they can, but the area has been wet and they haven't been able to work out there," he said. "We are at least a month behind with weather conditions already."
Marsico said county officials want the project completed in a timely manner as much as residents do, but, he said, the work must be done properly.
Doug Bieber, who lives on Western Reserve Road and owns Tech-Ni-Tool Industry Inc. on Western Reserve Road, also takes issue with the construction, but for a different reason.
Bieber said the project will leave open road drainage ditches on either side of the road. He said the ditches will lay the burden of maintaining them on property owners -- a responsibility he does not want.
Marsico said the initial plans for the project included the open ditches and were approved by the state and federal governments. He said deviating from those plans would mean a loss of the 80 percent reimbursement from the federal government for that part of the project.
Marsico said that it is unfortunate that the residents and business owners along the stretch are upset and that he apologizes, but the work must be done according to specifications and in the right weather conditions if it is intended to last, he said.