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224/11 construction project halted until after holidays
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
Area motorists soon will begin to see construction work on the shoulder of the road as the Ohio Department of Transportation begins work on the state Route 11/U.S. Route 224 construction project.
That project had been scheduled to start in November but was pushed back to early 2015.
“It was best not to affect the area through the holiday season with lane restrictions, so we decided to hold off until after Christmas and New Year’s,” said Brent Kovacs, an ODOT spokesman.
“I think that was pretty logical for the state to push it back,” said Marie Cartwright, Canfield Township trustee. “So they wouldn’t have that part torn up during the wintertime and the holiday season.”
A.P. O’Horo Co. General Contractors, based in Liberty, is performing the work, which will span a few months.
Kovacs said shoulder work will begin after Jan. 1, and “tentatively right now, the beginning of March is when you will see the majority of lane restrictions.”
Kovacs said the goal is to be finished with the project, which includes bridge repair and is comparable to the Route 224/Interstate 680 bridge work in Boardman, by the 2015 Canfield Fair. Also like the Boardman project, it will feature daytime construction and one-lane restrictions during bridge work.
“We’re not going to have any lane restrictions during the fair if the project is not completed” by then, Kovacs said.
“That was a concern just because traffic is increased greatly, and to have construction going on or some of the lanes shut down would just not be very effective for that time of the year,” Cartwright said of the fair.
She also said the project has been talked about for a few years.
“For a primary road going through the center of town, it’s probably one of the biggest” road projects we’ve had, Cartwright said.