Portion of Western Reserve Road will be expanded to three lanes

By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners approved a $130,840 agreement with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to provide right-of-way acquisition services for the widening of Western Reserve Road from Hitchcock Road to Market Street.

Actual construction for the $6 million widening project will start in 2019, 2020 or 2021 and likely won’t be completed in a single construction season, said county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti at Thursday’s meeting.

Two-way traffic will be maintained during construction in the area that forms the boundary between Boardman and Beaver townships, he said.

The road will be expanded from two to three lanes, with the third lane being a center turn lane, he said.

The project will consume portions of front lawns, but Ginnetti said he doesn’t expect that any buildings will have to be demolished to accommodate the widening.

The widening is needed to alleviate traffic congestion, Ginnetti said.

“You’ve got a heavy volume of traffic. ... We’ve got some drainage challenges,” he said of the challenges facing the project.

The commissioners also passed a resolution of necessity to buy three Ford 2017 Police Special sport utility vehicles for $34,025 each for the county sheriff’s office from Lebanon Ford under a state purchasing contract.

“We’re going to purchase three, which we’re doing every year now, and replacing three vehicles,” Sgt. Thomas DeGenova of the sheriff’s office told the commissioners.

The commissioners congratulated DeGenova, who will retire next week, for his 39 years in law enforcement.

They also recognized Martin Loney, the new Western Reserve Port Authority board chairman, for being the first chairman of that board from Mahoning County in more than 10 years.

Serving Mahoning and Trumbull counties, the authority owns and operates the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna in Trumbull County and performs economic development work in the Mahoning Valley.