224 signal gets full-funding green light

By Denise Dick

The traffic light will be paid for with federal dollars.

POLAND — Another traffic light on U.S. Route 224 may sound like another obstacle to a quick trip across town, but it’s aimed to ease congestion for those exiting the village post office.

The village has secured 100 percent federal funding through Eastgate Regional Council of Governments for engineering and construction of a light on U.S. 224 at Pennsylvania Avenue, right in front of the post office.

“We went in for 80 percent funding, and I was very pleasantly surprised when we got 100 percent funding,” said Ralph Mentzer, volunteer grants coordinator for the village.

Kathleen Rodi, Eastgate transportation director, said the cost of the project including preliminary engineering and construction is about $198,000 and will be paid with federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.

Preliminary engineering is expected to begin later this year or in 2010, with construction starting in 2010.

Mayor Tim Sicafuse travels between his office on Route 224 in Boardman and the post office and believes the light will benefit residents.

“It’s my understanding that it will switch to a flashing light at night,” the mayor said.

Traffic is much lighter at night, he reasoned, and a regular traffic signal isn’t required.

Mentzer said he’s heard from many residents who are concerned about the difficulty of pulling out of the post office.

Dr. Robert Gillette, who lives on Audubon Lane near the post office, is one of them.

“I think you only have to stand there and watch to see the difficulty of getting out of the post office,” he said.

It’s especially difficult to make a left turn onto U.S. 224, Gillette said.

But people waiting to turn in either direction onto 224 face delays, as the view of those trying to turn right is obstructed by motorists waiting to go left, he said.

“If you go there about 4 p.m., you have to wait to get up to the place where you wait to make a turn,” Gillette said.

Mentzer said he approached federal, state and county officials about the project as well as getting the go-ahead from village council and support from Boardman trustees. The north side of 224 at the intersection is in Boardman Township.

“Everyone was very cooperative,” he said.

The idea of a light has been talked about for years.

The village wrote letters to the Ohio Department of Transportation in both 1998 and 2004 inquiring about the process to secure a light, but a traffic study wasn’t conducted until last year.

MS Consultants, the village’s engineering firm, conducted a study in April 2008 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 Avenue intersection is about 1,300 feet west of the light at state Route 170 and about 1,300 feet east of the Interstate 680 northbound ramps. The minimum distance required between lights is 1,000 feet.

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

Meeting one criteria, however, can be sufficient for ODOT to authorize a traffic light.

denise_dick@vindy.com