Wal-Mart begins road construction

Two traffic lights are being added on Elm Road near the new store.
BAZETTA -- Earth moving has begun, and actual construction of the Wal-Mart Supercenter a short distance north of the current Elm Road store is expected in May or June of this year.
The new store will open as early as March of 2008, said Ron Mosby, Wal-Mart senior manager for public affairs.
The 203,819-square-foot store, which will include a grocery, is being built on 24-acres on the north side of the state Route 62/5 bypass. It will be built behind Warren Harley-Davidson and the Four Seasons Car Wash.
Meanwhile, road work being done by Wal-Mart around the new store is to begin today.
Wal-Mart's part
Justin Chesnic, public information specialist at the Ohio Department of Transportation's Akron headquarters, said Wal-Mart will be responsible for road work and traffic light changes being made between the bypass and Millennium Drive; ODOT will supervise the work.
The part being paid for and handled by Wal-Mart involves adding two turn lanes and two traffic lights, Chesnic said. Wal-Mart will add a turn lane on the northbound exit ramp of the bypass and another on Elm Road in the northbound lane leading up to the Millennium Boulevard entrance.
Wal-Mart will also be adding traffic lights at the Elm Road intersections at Hoagland Blackstub Road and at Millennium Boulevard.
Related project
ODOT has a separate but related road project that will start Thursday, Chesnic said. ODOT will resurface state Route 5 starting at the Cortland city limits and working south, ending at the bypass.
The project will cost 1.5 million and is slated for completion around September 30, 2007.
ODOT will pave the road, upgrade the traffic light at Warren-Meadville Road, and upgrade the traffic light and create a left turn lane southbound at Burnett Drive.
Chesnic said ODOT's resurfacing work is expected to reach the area in front of new Wal-Mart sometime in June, after Wal-Mart's road work is completed.
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