MANSFIELD, Ohio–The beginning of the U.S. 30 reconstruction is one step closer after more details were finalized during the project’s Advisory Committee meeting on Monday.
The Ohio Department of Transportation District 3 hosted the committee, comprised of local and state officials, business leaders, and community representatives. Project details were discussed as the committee prepares for a public meeting to be set towards the end of March.
Fred Seling, principal at Engineering Associates Inc. and project manager, said the U.S. 30 reconstruction as a whole will improve traffic safety all around.
“It will have all brand-new pavement, which is an ongoing maintenance problem that the city has to pay to maintain now, all new bridges in the corridor, and upgrade all the interchanges to be compatible with high-speed design,” said Seling. “It will also improve the safety of Ohio Route 39 and concentrate at the area of 13 and 30.”
The project is split into two parts, West and East, for funding purposes, and is expected to cost $110 million, split almost evenly between the two parts. Seling said the project is “100 percent” funded by the state of Ohio, no funds coming from the city of Mansfield.
“The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has had several meetings making sure they have the resources and money to pay for the project,” said Seling. “They’re committed.”
The schedule for the project has been pushed back because ODOT did not originally anticipate such high project costs, with the West project to be bid in October 2018. Construction is expected to begin in April 2019; the East half of the project is expected to start a year later.
Seling said on Monday the heavier development is on the West end of the project, which includes replacing all U.S. 30 pavements and shoulders and converting to an urban typical section with a median barrier, upgrading facility to meet current design guidelines including the state Route 39 interchange, upgrading ramp acceleration and deceleration lanes for high-speed design, and adding lighting along the entire project.
The first design element discussed on Monday was the intersection of Longview Avenue with the state Route 39 ramps, with the recommendation that the intersection be replaced with a cul-de-sac. Seling said 13 businesses on Longview Avenue between Trimble Road and state Route 39 were interviewed regarding the conversion, with only one business expressing concern about loss of drive by customers.
“Everyone that we spoke to, we explained the option of constructing a cul-de-sac and how that would impact their business, how much of their traffic uses that connection now, what would happen if we made it a cul-de-sac,” explained Seling. “The local businesses have not expressed any concerns, just one concern raised that the cul-de-sac be large enough for semis to negotiate that.”
Another concern was the accessibility of police and fire forces. Seling said the Mansfield Fire Department asked about the possibility of making a gate connection that only safety services could use and maintaining connection from Route 39 ramps to the cul-de-sac. Mansfield Police had not responded as of Monday’s meeting. Turn issues with semi trucks were also observed and verified at the Longview intersection.
“Our recommendation is to replace the Longview Avenue intersection with state Route 39 with a cul-de-sac,” Seling reiterated. “It improves the safety, we’ve got problems documented as far as turning, the volume of traffic on Longview is large enough to impact the operation of the Trimble intersection, and business owners have no objections.”
A second design item discussed on Monday was the removal of the U.S. 30 westbound ramp connecting to Route 39 northbound. Seling explained removing the ramp would improve safety by removing overlapping deceleration lanes, and save the city $589,000 as well as reducing snow removal costs.
“If you recall at the last meeting it was time to make some more difficult decisions because the cost of the project just kept growing, and we were trying to find ways to bring this back to a little lesser cost,” said Seling.
Entities affected by the removal of the ramp include The Ohio State University Mansfield campus as well as the city of Shelby, but Seling noted both were approached with the idea of the removal and had little to no concern.
A third item discussed was the plan to reduce Route 39 from four to three lanes from Burns Street to north of the interchange.
“Three lanes is more than adequate for the traffic volume that is out there,” said Seling. “Reducing the length of the U.S. 30 Bridge over state Route 39 and not putting a four-lane pavement back in will save approximately $2 million.”
Other design items discussed include the impacts of the project on Hamilton Park and the construction of noise barriers. Residents living along the proposed noise barrier will be surveyed to determine if they want the noise barrier or not; if noise barriers are desired by the majority of residents; then wall color, finish and possible aesthetic treatments will be considered.
Fred Seling, principal at Engineering Associates Inc. and project manager, said the U.S. 30 reconstruction as a whole will improve traffic safety all around.
The project is split into two parts, West and East, for funding purposes, and is expected to cost $110 million, split almost evenly between the two parts. Seling said the project is “100 percent” funded by the state of Ohio, no funds coming from the city of Mansfield.
