Grant aims to help Trumbull’s Golden Triangle

Staff report

WARREN

Years ago, when Packard Electric and the Ohio Lamp Plant of General Electric employed 10,000 people on Dana and Griswold streets, the Golden Triangle area where they are located was thought of as a mighty industrial powerhouse.

The area lost its prominence after the Packard Electric facilities closed, but there are still 2,300 jobs and about 35 manufacturing, industrial and warehouse companies doing business there, and officials have acquired a $37,500 planning grant to focus on retaining the current jobs and attracting new ones.

The grant, from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, will be used to determine what infrastructure improvements need to be made to the Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle consists of roads such as Larchmont Avenue, Bronze Road, Dietz Road, Paige Avenue and Dana Street. Many of the businesses are in the city, but many others and much of the land is in Howland Township.

Mike Keys, Warren community development director, and Warren Mayor Doug Franklin say the most-pressing needs are to widen certain intersections, improve railroad crossings and improve lighting to improve the flow of truck traffic.

Officials from the city, Howland Township, Trumbull County Engineer’s office and the county commissioners had a press conference Wednesday at Liberty Steel on Dietz Road to explain how the grant will be used.

The four partners in the project will provide the $37,500 in cash and in-kind services to provide the matching funds, Keys said. The next phase will be to secure funding to pay for the improvements.

“These roads have been neglected for years and need improvements,” Franklin said.