Valley's lone park & ride lot saves users cash, grows friendships

AUSTINTOWN

Mahoning Valley residents who carpool from a heavily used park and ride lot here cite a host of financial, social and environmental reasons for sharing rides on long commutes to the same destination.

“It’s just a big cost savings. Also, it’s environmentally friendly. We have one car driving to Cleveland, instead of four,” said Emily Woodall of Austintown.

“How we do it is: The day you drive, you pay for the gas, the parking and the tolls,” said Donna Hardrick of Canfield, another member of the Cleveland-bound group, which rotates driving among its participants.

Woodall and Hardrick, along with Whitney Joy of Boardman and Christopher Nadaud of Austintown, carpool from the state-designated park and ride lot at the busy Interstate 80 and state Route 46 interchange to their workplace at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service center, which serves the Navy in downtown Cleveland.

The 72-space park and ride lot, owned and maintained by the Ohio Department of Transportation, is the only ODOT-designated lot for this purpose in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.