Poland council votes to add traffic light

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Village officials believe a traffic light at U.S. Route 224 and the post office entrance would improve safety and reduce traffic tie-ups.

Village council passed a motion to pursue the requirements to secure a light at the Pennsylvania Avenue intersection, the location of the U.S. Post Office.

Ralph Mentzer, who works as a volunteer grant coordinator for the village, said he is pursuing grant funding through the Federal Highway Administration to cover the bulk of the cost for the new light.

“It would probably be around $200,000 because we want to tie it into the light at Interstate 680 [ramps] and [U.S.] 224,” Mentzer said.

MS Consultants, the village’s engineering firm, conducted a study last April to determine if the intersection meets state requirements for a traffic signal.

The study found that the intersection meets one of eight criteria that determine traffic light placement. The Pennsylvania intersection is about 1,300 feet west of the light at state Route 170 and about 1,300 feet east of the I-680 northbound ramps. The minimum distance required between lights is 1,000 feet.

“You have 20,000 to 30,000 cars per day through that intersection,” Mentzer said. “That’s a lot of cars.”

The intersection doesn’t meet light requirements for four-hour or peak-hour vehicular volume, and the location wasn’t evaluated for crash history.

Meeting one criteria, however, can be sufficient for the Ohio Department of Transportation to authorize a traffic light, said Paula Putnam, a spokeswoman for the ODOT District 4.

ODOT hasn’t received the study.

While the agency won’t pay for traffic signals, the authority of whether requirements for a light and proper procedures have been followed rests with ODOT.

“We are the ones that determine if Ohio [law] and federal code is followed for all traffic and transportation needs,” Putnam said.

While the northern lanes of the intersection lie in Boardman, she said that the jurisdiction of the property location that causes the need for the light is responsible for pursuing and paying for it. In this case, that’s the post office which is in the village.

Mentzer said he does plan to discuss the light with Boardman officials though, to try to secure their cooperation on the project.

Mayor Tim Sicafuse said that the post office entrance from U.S. 224 is an extension of Pennsylvania Avenue.

If property for sale next to the post office is developed, it could add more traffic through that intersection.

Both Sicafuse and Mentzer also believe a light would improve safety, citing the difficulty in making a left turn onto U.S. 224 from the post office.

This isn’t the first time the light idea has been broached by village officials. ODOT has letters from the village in both 1998 and 2004 inquiring about the process to secure a light.

The agency has a record of its replies to the village, explaining the requirement for a study, but nothing that indicates the process moved beyond that, Putnam said.