MANSFIELD — There is a remodeling underway for the Park Avenue East/Ashland Road corridor and underpass, or “subway.”
Doug Versaw, convener of the Richland Community Development Group’s Mansfield Area Beautification sector, discussed plans earlier this week. All four corners of the underpass will be landscaped, he said Wednesday.
“We were originally just going to landscape it, and then we said, ‘We think the community will get behind us and we’ll do a little bit more than just landscaping,'” Versaw said.
At the Rex Pipe property on East Third Street, an existing concrete wall, steel poles and deteriorated concrete parking lot will be removed. In its place will be a new gravity based retaining wall suitable to meet the engineering needs of the site. The wall will be roughly 70 feet long and vary in height from 5 feet down to 2 feet.
The area where concrete has been removed will be amended with good topsoil and seeded with a low growing tall turf type fescue seed.
All of the landscaping will be taken care of by Rex’s Landscaping and Construction.
“I don’t know if you’ve all seen what (Rex’s) has done to the old Peterson Tire building down the street — it was an eyesore. (Rex’s) has done their part as far as beautification,” Versaw said.
Jon Stierhoff, director of operations at Rex’s, said given the company’s close proximity to the project site, they plan to keep an eye on it.
“We hate to see a project be beautified and then look bad two-three years down the road, which is often something that happens,” Stierhoff said.
Flowers, shrubs and some ornamental trees will be planted.
“There will be some consistent color year-round from the first or second week of June well into the first couple of frosts,” Stierhoff said. “It’s carefree type plant material. “
The project will be completed by June 1, he estimated.
The concrete underpass will also be painted by PPG Paints. “It’ll probably be a neutral color of some kind,” Versaw said.
The underpass was constructed by Purdy Construction Company in 1923.
The beautification sector is asking The Norfolk and Southern Railway for permission to add murals on the railings at the top of the underpass on both sides.
Versaw said he’s been contacted by a number of businesses and individuals that are interested in contributing to this project.
“It’s a lot of fun to do these projects because people have an interest, and they want to see some improvements,” he said.
The project is estimated to cost approximately $40,000. The Richland County Foundation awarded the beautification sector $10,000 in grant money for this project.
If the beautification sector is able to surpass its financial goal to complete the project, additional funds could be used to plant trees throughout the corridor.
Any monetary contributions are welcome and will be fully deductible as RCDG is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
“When it’s all said and done, it’s going to be a beautiful entranceway into Mansfield and exit coming out of Mansfield with the landscaping.”
