Fifth Ave. face-lift, other projects will energize city

One by one, key pieces of downtown Youngstown’s strategic redevelopment puzzle are securely falling into place. As they do, the positive impact they bring to the central city and its immediate environs cannot be overstated.

One of the newest pieces of that puzzle came into focus earlier this week at an informational meeting and open house at Eastgate Regional Council of Government’s downtown headquarters.

That Youngstown initiative, projected to cost about $6 million, aims to reinvent a vital stretch of Fifth Avenue, one of the city’s most heavily traveled thoroughfares, from West Federal Street to Madison Avenue.

The project will reduce the number of lanes – currently at four, five and six – to three. It also will include bus pull-off and transit-waiting areas, new sidewalks, pedestrian safety lighting and crossing signals, decorative crosswalks, bicycle lanes, streetscape work, new lighting and a path for an autonomous bus shuttle.

Brian Hughes, senior project manager for MS Consultants Inc., the Youngstown company serving as the consultant on the project, was not mincing words Tuesday in defining the impact of the project as “transformational.”

We would concur that the project promises to transform the antiquated traffic patterns of the boulevard, patterns that were designed for traffic volumes more than twice as heavy as today in Youngstown.

Among other credible goals of the project, most importantly it seeks to strengthen the “town-gown” linkage between the central business district and adjacent Youngstown State University.

Those two mutually dependent sectors, arguably the most vibrant areas citywide, can morph into one larger and bustling center of commerce, education, research and entertainment.

Youngstown leaders hope to complete the project by August 2020. But before any earth movers take their places for the municipal face-lift, city leaders are seeking public input and comments.

City Councilman Julius T. Oliver, D-1st, said the city hopes to have another public forum on the project. We hope that comes to fruition so that project ideas can be fully vetted among those who will use the avenue the most.

In the meantime, we would also encourage residents or those who frequently traverse Fifth Avenue to respond to the city’s request for written comments.

People can do so by March 22 by mail at: Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, Youngstown City Hall, 26 S. Phelps St., Youngstown OH 44503 or by email at cshasho@youngstownohio.gov.

Adding excitement to that project is its intersection with a variety of other complementary infrastructure initiatives. Collectively, they will put the city’s ongoing transformation into high gear. Among them:

Replacing 11 traffic lights – primarily along Fifth and Wick avenues – and removing seven others – primarily along Front Street and Wick. These moves stand to improve traffic flow and reduce needless waits at some inner-city intersections.

Massive additional improvements to Fifth Avenue stemming from a $10.8 million federal infrastructure grant – to be matched with a like amount of local funding and in-kind services . The project will completely renovate Fifth, Rayen and Park avenues and Federal, Front, Boardman and Commerce streets. Fifth Avenue’s renaissance will extend through the Mercy Health Youngstown Campus.

Opening this June of the $8 million riverfront park and amphitheater on and near the banks of the Mahoning on the southern edge of downtown.

Construction this summer of a pedestrian mall along a one-block section of North Phelps Street to enliven even further the heart of the downtown’s popular Entertainment District.

Preliminary planning for major infrastructure improvements to Belmont Avenue, which runs parallel to Fifth, from downtown to Churchill Commons in Liberty Township among city and township leaders.

With so much construction hubbub and road work happening simultaneously, we hope partners in all of the projects plan carefully to lessen the headaches of detours and work zones for motorists.