By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners entered into an agreement for engineering design services for installation of a new traffic light at Mahoning Avenue and Victoria Road in Austintown.

The $22,500 contract awarded Thursday is with CT Consultants Inc. of Youngstown.

The intersection is now controlled only by a stop sign for southbound traffic on Victoria Road as it enters Mahoning.

“The high percentage of truck traffic, coupled with the high volume of traffic on Mahoning Avenue, causes a congestion issue and a potential safety concern,” which a traffic light can help alleviate, said county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti.

The intersection doesn’t stand out as a high-accident area, but the severity of some accidents there are cause for concern, Ginnetti said.

Slow-moving southbound trucks on Victoria Road must cross several lanes as they turn left onto the five-lane Mahoning Avenue, which carries fast-moving traffic, he noted.

Cost estimates and an installation schedule have not been completed for the traffic light, but such installations typically cost $200,000 to $300,000, Ginnetti said. The installation will be paid for with a combination of federal and local funds.

It’s not yet known if there’ll be a turning arrow for eastbound Mahoning Avenue motorists turning left to go north on Victoria Road, Ginnetti said.

Victoria Road is the home of an Ohio National Guard armory and many major warehouses.

Commissioner David Ditzler also announced the county sanitary engineer’s office has reached a tentative agreement to buy land for a new 500,000-gallon elevated water tank just south of state Route 224 near the exit ramp from northbound state Route 11 in Canfield Township.

“We’re hoping to have construction start sometime mid- to late fall,” said Bill Coleman, sanitary engineering office manager. The installation, designed to improve water supply and pressure for residents, businesses and firefighters in the Canfield area, is expected to cost $2.5 million to $3 million.

The project will be funded by a $750,000 Ohio Public Works Commission grant, with the remainder of the money coming from Aqua Ohio, which provides water to that area.

The commissioners gave their support to a U.S. House of Representatives bill whose goal is to restore overnight mail delivery to the U.S. Postal Service.

Commissioners acted as Youngstown faces mail-delivery delays due to the closing this summer of its downtown mail processing center and the routing of its mail to Cleveland for processing.