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Youngstown council approves payment for Expressway street lights
YOUNGSTOWN
City council voted to authorize the board of control to pay $44,895 to Ohio Edison for extensive improvement and replacement work to streetlights on the Madison Avenue Expressway.
It was the highlight of the first regular council meeting of the year. That Wednesday meeting was low-key and quick, barely lasting five minutes. There only were seven items on the agenda.
It was considerably different than Monday’s reorganizational meeting that included four votes on the makeup of a committee and criticism from council President Charles Sammarone contending members were “playing politics.”
The work to be done to the Madison Avenue Expressway includes replacing more than 50 streetlight heads and 300 feet of wire, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.
“The Madison Avenue Expressway has had some issues with streetlights,” he said. “This should resolve those problems.”
The work took a three-person line crew five weeks to complete.
The board of control needs to approve the payment. It is not on the agenda of its meeting today.
Discussion of problems with lights on the Madison Avenue Expressway prompted Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd, to bring up similar issues on the Himrod Expressway.
Shasho said those problems could be related to a lengthy project on the expressway in which bridges over the Mahoning River and rail lines are being replaced.