Meeting tackles traffic jams on U.S. Route 224

One idea is an underpass beneath Market Street.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Any solution to alleviate traffic congestion along U.S. Route 224 long term is probably 10 to 15 years away.
But members of the three stakeholders groups, government, business and the public, met Thursday at the township government center to review some of the draft concepts that have been identified.
A meeting for the general public will be conducted later.
In late 2004, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and Ohio Department of Transportation District 4 initiated a study of the six-mile stretch of Route 224 between state Route 11 in Canfield and Interstate 680 in Poland. URS Consultants of Akron was hired to do the $1 million study.
None preferred
No solution has been identified as a preferred alternative, and the concepts presented didn't include cost estimates. Once a solution for the congestion is identified, it will take 10 to 15 years to plan, design, secure funding and construct it, officials said.
"We're here specifically to gather your input," said Joe DeFuria, traffic engineer of ODOT District 4.
One alternative involves making U.S. 224 an underpass beneath Market Street. The underpass would run from near Amherst Avenue to near Sheldon Avenue. The elevation of Market Street would remain the same.
Township Trustee Robyn Gallitto said she's heard from residents opposed to that plan because of both aesthetics and concerns that it would create a thoroughfare.
Another proposed idea for the U.S. 224-Market Street intersection is widening to create dual left turn lanes at each approach.
Kathleen Rodi, Eastgate director of transportation, said the amount of property needed to accomplish either the underpass or the dual-turn lane additions is about the same.
Other possibilities include the creation of back roads to circulate traffic from U.S. 224 to lesser traveled streets and to eliminate some left turns from and onto Route 224, said Bill Barlow, transportation systems manager for Eastgate.
Business owners worry
Some business owners who attended Thursday's meeting worried that diverting traffic from Route 224 would damage their businesses.
Judy Bennett of URS, Rodi and Barlow said that isn't the intent.
"We are trying to work for the business people," Barlow said. "You are a huge influence on what goes forward."
Although an overall solution is years away, some relief is anticipated through other projects already planned.
In 2008, ODOT plans to widen the road at the Tippecanoe Road-Lockwood Boulevard intersection, and widening from the Shops at Boardman Park to I-680 is expected in 2009.
The 2009 work also includes coordination of the traffic signals.
Those two projects came out of a safety study of the road conducted a few years ago.