Construction to reroute traffic around YSU

By denise dick | denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Students returning to Youngstown State University next week will have to navigate around construction, and it’s going to get worse later this semester.

Construction is underway on Lincoln Avenue, and the road is closed between Wick and Fifth avenues. Work is expected to continue through the calendar year.

The real headache comes in mid-September when Wick Avenue, another main route to campus, is slated for construction. That project should take about a year to complete. It affects the stretch from Wood Street to McGuffey Road.

Both are city projects.

“There’s no doubt it’s going to be ugly,” said John Hyden, YSU’s executive director of facilities. Classes resume Wednesday.

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said the contractor for the Wick work will determine the detours. He expects motorists will be routed from Wick to Fifth via Rayen Avenue.

“We’re going to have a stakeholders’ meeting Tuesday,” he said, listing the Butler Institute of American Art and the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County among them.

“We’re going to work very closely with the city and the contractor with the detours,” Hyden said. “Most of the congestion is going to be YSU customers.”

Other stakeholders await more information about the timing of road closures, too.

“We’re obviously very interested in knowing” details of lane closures and project timelines, said H. William Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

The society’s Memories of Christmas Past event runs from late November to early January, so it could be affected by the project, he said.

Lou Zona, the Butler’s executive director, said access to the art museum will be maintained through the project.

“It’s much needed given the beauty of our thoroughfare,” he said. “The idea of burying utility lines and [adding] new light poles is much needed, and I think it’s going to enhance all of our cultural entities.”

Hyden acknowledged the rerouting isn’t ideal.

“It’s going to be inconvenient, but in the end it’s going to be an improvement,” he said. “It will be safer and better for everyone. It’s a temporary pain for a long-term improvement.”

Above-ground utility poles will be moved underground between Rayen Avenue and the Madison Avenue Expressway access roads, two waterlines will be replaced with one, a sewer line will be replaced and new traffic lights will be installed.

The four-lane thoroughfare is being reduced to three lanes with the middle lane serving as a turn lane. The road also will be paved and new signs installed.

The $4.9 million Wick project is being financed with $3.9 million from the city, $800,000 from YSU and the remainder from Youngstown CityScape.

The Lincoln project’s cost is about $1.3 million with most paid with federal funding.

Between Wick Avenue and Hazel Street, the Lincoln work includes paving, sewer improvements, marked crosswalks, new sidewalk curbs, pedestrian islands at intersections, about 20 parking meters that allow motorists to pay with debit and credit cards and removal of parking spaces on the north side of the street.

Pedestrian access to cross Lincoln will be restricted, but it will be maintained. Pedestrian detours will be posted. The Lincoln Avenue parking deck will remain open, but drivers won’t be able to access it from Lincoln. Detours will direct them to the Fifth Avenue entrance instead.

Hyden said the Wick Avenue deck will be open, too, but motorists should enter and exit from Walnut Street. Both Hyden and Ron Cole, a YSU spokesman, advise students to allow extra time to get to campus and to class.