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Lowellville pursues improvement projects
By SARAH Lehr
LOWELLVILLE
It’s been a busy construction season for Lowellville.
The village has wrapped up $1,433,980 worth of emergency repairs to McGill and Walnut Streets. The roads, which sustained damage from heavy rainstorms last June, are now replete with new sidewalks, curbing and storm sewers.
CSX railroad engineering also is set to complete repairs at Jackson Street, which Mayor James Iudiciani Sr. estimates will total about a half-million dollars.
About $836,058 of the emergency repair funding came from the Ohio Public Works Emergency Fund and about $157,489 came from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
The village also borrowed $193,929 from the Ohio Water Development Authority.
Before the start of construction, Aqua Ohio installed new waterlines, and Dominion East Ohio Gas installed gas lines at McGill Street between Walnut and Wood Streets.
Additionally, Aqua Ohio installed new waterlines at Water Street near Queisner Avenue.
In other business, a bridge project totaling approximately $350,000, headed by the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office, is under way.
Completion is tentatively slated for July.
The bridge project includes wider sidewalks and decorative LED lights, to match lights planned for the village’s downtown.
The downtown improvement project, involving new lighting, curbs, sidewalks and asphalt at Water and Third Streets, extending to state Route 289, will go out for bids in June.
The project’s total estimated cost is $515,000, with $330,000 provided by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The village also has received about $184,990 from an OPWC Small Governments grant. Construction is set to begin by Sept. 1.
Also underway are $1.3 million in upgrades to the village’s wastewater treatment plant.
The adjustments are mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and will be reimbursed by BFI, Iudiciani said.
Leachate from the BFI landfill is responsible for about 90 percent of the village’s water treatment cost, according to the mayor.
“When you think about these numbers for a small village, it’s pretty crazy,” Iudiciani said, referring to the scale of improvement projects. “We’ve been very blessed.”