Road to recovery

By Jon Moffett | July 26, 2009 at 12:01a.m.

Several Mahoning County projects are set to start soon.

By JON MOFFETT

Vindicator Staff Writer

The first wave of what is expected to be millions of dollars in federal stimulus money has made its way to the Mahoning Valley.

Contractors began work by placing signs that read “Putting America Back to Work: Project Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” along state Route 39 in Columbiana County. The project is one of many expected to begin in coming months.

State Route 39 is the major east-west route used to move goods and services in the region,” said Dick Bible, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s District 11, which includes Columbiana County.

“By making this investment, we are extending this pavement life by 10 to 12 years.”

The $1.8 million project will resurface 12 miles of Route 39 from the village of Carrollton to the Columbiana County line, and an additional mile into Salineville. Work is expected to be completed by mid-September.

Mahoning County is also close to putting the steamrollers on the road for several shovel-ready projects. Paula Putnam, a spokeswoman with ODOT’s District 4, said work should begin soon.

“We just received four calls for our projects,” she said. District 4 covers Ashtabula, Mahoning, Summit and Trumbull counties.

The Mahoning County ODOT projects include four “mill-and-fill” repaving jobs. Putnam said work should begin within the next few weeks to repave sections of Interstate 680 in Austintown, West Fifth Street in Beloit and combined projects of state Routes 7, 625 and U.S. Route 62 in Youngstown and a bridge repair project on state Route 11 in Canfield Township.

Putnam said District 4 will have “preconstruction meetings” in the next week or two. ODOT is in the process of evaluating bidders for the different projects to make sure the contractors can fulfill the jobs. She said the contractors fund the projects and are then reimbursed by ODOT with the stimulus money. The jobs have preliminary bidders, but Putnam said each bid must be verified before work can begin.

And while the process has taken a while, Putnam said the projects should be under way soon.

“I think they’re going to rush this process,” she said. “These contractors will want to get paid.”

Other projects in the county are also on the verge of readiness. The Mahoning County Engineer’s office is finalizing bids for two projects, said Marilyn Kenner, chief deputy engineer. Bids are being taken for a mill and fill project on South Avenue and a repair of Glen Bridge on Glenwood Avenue.

“We opened bids on July 1 and are evaluating them currently,” Kenner said. She added that the projects should be awarded by the middle of August.

At least one Mahoning County project could get a boost this week. The Western Reserve Transit Authority in Youngstown has accepted bids for a $2.5 million project to renovate its facilities and upgrade transportation services.

Jim Ferraro, WRTA director of transportation, said the project will be awarded as early as Thursday. He said work will begin soon after and should be completed by year’s end.

“Most of the project is in pretty good shape right now,” he said. “What we understood was that this was a shovel-ready project, so we made no changes to the original plans and we are ready to go.”

Even more important than upgrading or repairing, Ferraro said, is that the projects put many people back to work.

“It’s going to be a nice project for local construction companies,” he said.

Things have progressed slowly since the announcement of the money. Local officials have been visibly frustrated about the lengthy process. Although Putnam has sympathy for those looking to get the ball rolling, she understands why the process take so long.

“I want to see these projects get done too; show me the contracts,” she said, laughing. “As a citizen, I’m thinking, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”

But she added that such hurdles are necessary to ensure no further delays in the legal process.

“The language of these projects has to be so detailed,” she said.

Kenner agreed, saying, “Shovel-ready means that your plans are done. You still need to compile a bid book, you still need ODOT to approve your bid book ... they are just making sure everyone is following the letter of the law.”

jmoffett@vindy.com