Poland stores looking to return to normal after extended 224 construction
and Kalea Hall
POLAND
The U.S. Route 224 and Interstate 680 project was, first, an annoyance.
Now, courtesy of Kravitz Deli, it’s delicious: The 224 Blockade sandwich.
The turkey, roast beef and swiss cheese topped with honey mustard on grilled rye delight was on special through this past summer — the most hampering stretch for the Poland village businesses affected by the nearly two-year project and also Mahoning County’s Mathews Road roundabout project.
Everyone “has seen a shrink in business or a lack of growth,” said Jack Kravitz, owner of the deli at 311 S. Main St. and president of the Poland Village Business Association.
Now that the bridge project is complete, businesses in the village want everyone to know that they are open and want them to see what they have to offer.
From 2 to 5 p.m. Dec. 6, several village businesses will offer treats, discounts and coupons as part of the Poland Village Business Association’s Santa Claus Saturday event. Horse and carriage rides, Santa, face painting, letter writing to Santa are just some of the features of the event.
Kravitz and other business owners in the village recognized the need to organize “to get people to know what is happening” in the village. Celebrate Poland was the association’s first event. Since then, the association has seen an increase in interest from other businesses in joining its efforts.
“[We] really needed to remind people what businesses are here,” Kravitz said.
Becky Nelis, owner of Pathways of Ohio Counseling Services LLC at 84 South Main St., knows she lost out on some business due to the construction. She made her clients maps to help them get to her office.
“It is difficult to say how many people we lost for potential clients because of the traffic,” Nelis said.
Inner Circle Pizza in Boardman, located right in the heart of the traffic mess at 1816 Boardman-Poland Road, experienced up to a 20 percent drop in business at times, manager Kelly Wolford said.
To get customers into the restaurant, Inner Circle frequently offered “orange barrel specials.”
Wolford said that while business has picked up, it’s still not what it used to be.
“There’s the concern that people that have changed their routine and have avoided coming this way — those are the people who still might not be coming. So we’re still feeling the impact,” she said.
Tim Sicafuse, mayor of Poland village and owner of Valley Insurance Group at 1714 Boardman-Poland Road, said the project impacted businesses in the plaza where his is located, near the Interstate 680 northbound ramp off 224 westbound.
“It was almost impossible to get in and out of here,” he said. “At the time it was going on, it was a nightmare.”
Despite the loss of business, owners seem to agree that the Ohio Department of Transportation could not have done anything differently to make it easier for them.
“I think they did the best they could. It was just such a big scope,” Sicafuse said.
The $5.4 million ODOT project began in July 2013 with culvert replacements, and then continued in 2014 with the widening and replacement of the 224 bridge over 680 and changes to the on and off ramps.
ODOT makes an effort to keep businesses informed about upcoming projects and tries to respond to business owners’ concerns while projects are underway, ODOT District 4 spokesman Justin Chesnic said.
His office distributed about 300 closure notification brochures to local businesses a few weeks before the 224 bridge project started, he said.
Over the course of construction, ODOT received some calls from businesses, but, “I wouldn’t say we were overwhelmed with businesses calling us,” he said.
One thing Wolford said she thought ODOT could have done differently was to have crews working on the bridge round-the-clock, rather than just during daytime shifts.
Chesnic, however, said it would not have been logistically possible for this project. Instead, crews worked on one side of the bridge at a time.
“The only way we could really have expedited that job was to close down 224 completely,” he said. “That would have been a much bigger inconvenience.”