$108.4 million Interstate 80 project begins Friday night

May 26, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

By ROBERT CONNELLY

AUSTINTOWN

A $108.4 million Interstate 80 project will begin Friday night.

Justin Chesnic, spokesperson for Ohio Department of Transportation District 4, said the project begins with paving the highway from I-80 and the Ohio Turnpike to I-80 and state Route 46 in Austintown. This will last four to six weeks with nightly lane closures.

Chesnic said the nightly work will be from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. or similar time periods.

While that section is being paved, the shoulder of I-80 will be built up to divert traffic when the highway is being widened. Traffic will be shifted to the right lane and the “beefed up” shoulder as crews work on the left lane.

The overall project includes pavement replacement and widening I-80 from four to six lanes between state Route 46 and state Route 193/Belmont Avenue in Trumbull County. It also includes widening and replacing six bridges over I-80 in Austintown, Weathersfield and Liberty townships and the city of Girard.

The project is expected to be complete in July 2018.

“The big impacts with this job are going to be ramp closures later on,” Chesnic said. He further said those won’t begin at the start of the project, and ODOT will announce ramp closures as they get closer.

Shelley Stevens, general manager of the Comfort Inn at I-80 and Route 46 in Austintown, doesn’t expect the project to affect business much.

“I hadn’t really thought about it too much,” Stevens said. “Obviously it comes at the worst time with summer starting, but with us being right here at the [I-80] exit ... you don’t have to go looking around for us.”

She continued, “I think people are used to all these travel, road improvements. I don’t think it’s going to affect us much.”

Lindy Good, marketing manager of Quaker Steak and Lube in Austintown, 5800 Interstate Boulevard, echoed Stevens.

“We do get a lot of traffic from the highway, but a lot of our traffic comes from the hotel and Mineral Ridge and Austintown, so most of that traffic is from 46,” she said. “I don’t look for it to affect us too much.”