Warren gets funding for historic lighting

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

An added renewal project is set for the city’s oldest street.

WARREN — The city is looking forward to illuminating its past with the help of another federal grant and possibly city money.

The Eastgate Regional Council of Governments awarded the city $140,800 to install replica historical lighting along Mahoning Avenue Northwest in the city’s historic district. The pedestrian lights will line one side of the avenue between High and Summit streets.

Bill Totten, director of engineering for the city, said the city will pay for 20 percent of the lighting upgrade or $34,000 of the project’s price tag of $172,000. That’s in addition to 20 percent of the cost to resurface Mahoning Avenue.

That project will stretch to the city’s corporation limits at a separate cost from the lighting. And though no final estimate for that project exists, Eastgate has dedicated $1.6 million to the city.

But Totten said the city is applying for additional grant money from other sources to avoid having to take from the city budget. Other street projects have been partially funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Public Works Commission.

Those projects include two other main streets already under construction.

The entire stretch of East Market Street is undergoing a $2.2 million resurfacing, which is expected to be completed next year. Totten said work will be nearly complete by the end of this year, with a top coat and paint added early next year, when the weather permits.

Work on Parkman Road Northwest is another big-budget project. The road, curbs and sidewalks will be resurfaced and reconstructed for $2 million, a project that Totten hopes will be complete by October.

The Mahoning Avenue lighting project is planned for completion in August 2009, simultaneously with the road resurfacing. Totten said the light poles will be about 10 feet tall and resemble those in front of the Kinsman House on that avenue.

sschroeder@vindy.com