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Ohltown Road gets face-lift
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
AUSTINTOWN
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One of Mahoning County’s most pothole-ridden sections of road got a face-lift this week.
Crews from the Mahoning County Engineer’s office began work Monday to hot-patch portions of Ohltown Road that had generated many complaints from motorists and residents.
“They’re out there today doing the patching,” Engineer Richard Marsico said, referring to Tuesday. “They were able to get the hot mix [Monday].”
Tony Gorvet, district supervisor at the engineer’s office, expected the work, which also includes grading, to be completed Tuesday on a piece of road at the top of the hill near Red Apple Drive and portions near Victoria and Silica roads.
Hot mix is available only during warmer months, and Gorvet said that only one plant is open.
“The rest will probably open in the middle of the month,” he said.
The cost of the material also has increased between $3 and $5 per ton more than last year, Gorvet said.
Mary McCarthy, a 15-year Ohltown Road resident, would like to see the length of the road repaved.
“I don’t understand why they don’t do the whole thing,” she said.
For as long as she’s lived there, the road has been problematic, McCarthy said.
“It’s terrible,” she said.
Tibitha Matheney, 35, has lived on Ohltown all but two years of her life.
“It’s really bad on your tires,” she said. “I just had to have my tires replaced. There were bubbles on them.”
Matheney used to travel Ohltown on her way into Niles, but the condition prompted her to alter her route, choosing state Route 46 instead.
Like McCarthy, Matheney is glad to see the work done, but she wishes the whole road was being resurfaced.
She worries that by winter, the road will be back to the condition it was before the patch work.
“I just hope they don’t forget about us,” Matheney said.
Ohltown is a main travel route for people driving to and from work at the GM plant in Lordstown, she said.
“I don’t think a lot of people realize how much traffic we get here,” Matheney said.
Marsico said there are no plans to resurface Ohltown this year, but he expects the patch work to hold for about a year.
The engineer’s office also did some patch work on a portion of New Road near Meridian Road last week, and work started this week on Lyons Boulevard in Struthers and Poland Township.
Plans also call for patching work on Western Reserve, Tippecanoe and Leffingwell roads, the supervisor said.
“We’re working as complaints come up,” he said. “We’re complaint-driven.”