Mahoning commissioners to call for bridge bids, agree to sponsor championship, exhibition

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners voted to advertise for bids for replacement of the Division Street bridge over the Mahoning River in downtown Youngstown.

In the $2.4 million project, the contractor first must bore under the river to relocate an 18-inch water-supply pipeline serving the Vallourec Star pipe-making complex. The supply line now crosses the bridge.

Once that is accomplished, the bridge will close on or after Feb. 1 for the nine-month demolition and replacement project.

In other action, the commissioners approved spending $6,000 from the county’s hotel bed-tax revenues as a sponsorship grant to support the Ohio Athletic Committee’s March 2015 Ohio State Boys Wrestling Championships at the Covelli Centre; voted to spend $5,000 from bed-tax receipts to sponsor a special exhibition in May and June next year at the Butler Institute of American Art; and voted to apply for up to $100,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission for a water-supply line installation along Miley Road in North Lima.

Dennis O’Hara, county emergency-management director, urged motorists this winter to keep in the back seats of their cars a winter emergency kit containing blankets, gloves, bottled water and granola bars, and to remain with their cars if they become stranded.

Cat litter, sand or salt can be stored in the car’s trunk to gain tire traction in case the car gets stuck in snow, he added.

Read more about the panel's actions in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.