Spending increased to fix roads

Parts of five landfill haul roads are to be repaved.

STAFF REPORT

AUSTINTOWN — The Mahoning County Solid Waste Management District Policy Committee has voted to double the district’s spending for repair of roads damaged by heavy landfill-bound truck traffic.

The amount was increased from the previously planned $250,000 to $500,000 this year.

The committee took its unanimous action Tuesday after a winter plagued with potholes that resulted from constant freeze and thaw cycles.

The funds will come from fees the county charges for waste dumped in the county’s three landfills; and the increased spending still must be approved by county commissioners.

The five roads on the county engineer’s list to be resurfaced with that money are:

UStruthers Road from Arrel Road to East Calla Road in Poland and Springfield townships.

UBeard Road from East Calla Road to East South Range Road in Springfield Township.

UEast Middletown Road from South Avenue to Springfield Road in Beaver and Springfield townships.

UBeloit-Snodes Road from West South Range Road to West Western Reserve Road in Smith Township.

USmith-Goshen Road from West Garfield Road to West Pine Lake Road in Goshen and Smith townships.

Besides being used to pave landfill haul roads, the $500,000 serves as matching money for $1 million in Ohio Public Works Commission grant funds. In addition, the county engineer’s office will spend $500,000 of its budget for road resurfacing.

Combined, these funds add up to a $2 million road resurfacing program this year, said Richard A. Marsico, county engineer.

In addition to that $2 million program, Mahoning Avenue in Austintown will undergo repaving and other improvements this year from Meridian Road to Meander Reservoir, Marsico said.

The $1.8 million Mahoning Avenue project includes $1,440,000 in federal highway funds and $360,000 in local funds. The county borrowed the $360,000 last fall and plans to repay it from gasoline tax and motor vehicle registration fees.