Project will update area around park

January 31, 2012 at 12:03a.m.

Stocker

By Jeanne Starmack

Struthers

Work will begin this summer on a project that will update the look of the area around Yellow Creek Park off Lowellville Road, the Struthers mayor says.

Mayor Terry Stocker said the project is being done in partnership with Mill Creek MetroParks and Mahoning County. It will include rehabilitating the bridge over Yellow Creek on Lowellville Road; expanding the entrance to Yellow Creek Park; installing new curbs, sidewalks and decorative lighting on the bridge and in part of the downtown nearby; and a pedestrian overlook at the left corner of Bridge Street and Lowellville Road.

The project cost is $300,000. The county obtained a $240,000 grant for the bulk of the cost through the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments from the federal Transportation Enhancement Program.

Local funds contributed to the project by the county, Mill Creek MetroParks and Struthers are $60,000; Struthers will contribute $17,600.

The city also will use $52,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, which must be used in a low- to moderate-income area, to replace more sidewalks and curbs — from the intersection of State Street and state Route 616 to approximately 200 feet east of the Yellow Creek Bridge and Park entrance, Stocker said.

According to information Stocker provided, the project will address several problems with the bridge and sidewalks.

On the bridge, rusting and broken expansion joints will be replaced as will the repeatedly patched concrete deck. New railings will replace the corroded ones.

Sidewalks off the bridge that are incomplete or hazardous will be rebuilt.

Stocker said the work will start in either June or July. He said he believes in the importance of revitalizing the appearance of the downtown.