MANSFIELD — The Ohio Department of Transportation’s public meeting on the U.S. 30 project drew a number of elected officials, community leaders, entrepreneurs and concerned citizens to the United Steelworkers Union Hall Wednesday evening.
The meeting was held in open house format, with several exhibits on display and ODOT officials available to answer questions attendees may have had.
Since the last public meeting on Sept. 22, ODOT’s project team has determined that the west and east projects will be combined into one project for construction. This decision is based on ODOT reviews to reduce costs and the construction timeline.
The purpose of this project is to address deteriorating pavements and poor bridge conditions on U.S. 30 and address outdated design features to reduce the number and severity of crashes on U.S. 30 and the interchanges.
U.S. 30 was originally constructed beginning in 1956. The road was most recently re-paved in 2010 with pavement repairs in 2015, but the concrete base underneath the asphalt has deteriorated and requires ongoing repairs.
As part of this project, the Ohio 39 interchange will be reconstructed to move the eastbound on-and off-ramps closer to U.S. 30. This will reduce the footprint of the interchange and put the ramps further away from homes. It will also create more distance between the eastbound ramp intersection and the Longview Avenue intersection south of the interchange.
The westbound off-ramps to Ohio 39 will be combined into one ramp. A traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of the ramps and Ohio 39. Traffic would turn left to go north on Ohio 39 or turn right to go south.
The old ramps will be removed and the number of lanes on Ohio 39 will be reduced from the current four lanes to three lanes (one lane in each direction plus a turning lane) from Burns Street to just north of the interchange to fit with the new interchange layout.
Rochelle Jones, who traverses Ohio 39 twice daily, has concerns about this change.
“My fear is that it’s going to cause major congestion,” she said.
At the U.S. 30/Ohio 39 interchange, Longview Avenue on the north side of U.S. 30 currently intersects with the ramps to and from U.S. 30. The west bound on-ramp and intersection with Longview Avenue is a concern because the merge area is short and trucks have to cross into oncoming traffic to make the turn.
Therefore, this intersection will be removed when the Ohio 39 interchange is reconstructed and a cul-de-sac will be constructed on Longview Avenue, and traffic on Longview Avenue west of Ohio 39 will have access to U.S. 30 via Trimble Road.
“They’re cutting off access to West Longview, and Longview Avenue supports U.S. 30,” John Siegenthaler of Lind Media Company said previously. “By cutting that off, they’re going to put more traffic onto U.S. 30 and give local traffic one less option.”
According to ODOT officials, there will be a gate on Longview Avenue in that area for emergency personnel usage.
Access to downtown was a concern shared among some of the attendees.
Diana Hostettler worries that the extra traffic pushed onto Longview Avenue between Ohio 13 and Ohio 545 because of the new connector route system could cause congestion, making access to downtown more challenging.
“We want to make sure the traffic flow into downtown is not compromised,” she said.
Barrett Thomas of Richland Community Development Group echoed her concerns.
“The good part (of the U.S. 30 project) is they’re going to fix a lot of the safety issues; the bad part is that it’s going to take a lot longer to get downtown,” Thomas said.
Below is an image which shows the Ohio 13 connector route options, which are colored blue and orange on the top left of the map. Also shown is the Ohio 545 connector route, which is the yellow line that runs parallel to U.S. 30 on the north side.
All intersections that have a red dot in the graph above can be built either as a roundabout or an intersection with or without a traffic signal.
Thomas believes installing roundabouts makes the most sense to help keep traffic flowing.
At previous public meetings, ODOT presented alternatives for the new connector road between Ohio 545 and the new interchange. The connector road impacts a warehouse and it may require relocation of one residence. However, it has no impact on the Ohio State Reformatory.
Dan Seckel of the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society, said, “We’re very satisfied with what they’ve come up with.”
Mike Barretta, president of zone four neighborhood watch, has attended a few of the ODOT meetings.
“It looks pretty positive, safety-wise,” he said of the project. “Right now, there’s too much confusion, especially if people don’t know the area–the ramps are so short.”
At previous public meetings, ODOT presented alternatives for a new interchange between Ohio 13 and Ohio 545. The new eastbound entrance ramp to U.S. 30 will be extended to the Fifth Avenue ramp to provide additional length for traffic to accelerate. This alternative is outside the floodplain and minimizes impact on the Longview Avenue businesses.
Bob Cohen suggested moving part of Ohio 13 to where the service roads would be, that way it too could be out of the floodplain. That could create an opportunity, perhaps, to widen Main Street to ease traffic flow and enhance access to downtown, he said.
ODOT officials said the cost would be significant and noted that this project pertains to U.S. 30.
“And that’s been the problem,” Cohen said. “It pays no attention to access to downtown.”
Project construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2020, with completion slated for 2022. Based on recent studies, two lanes will be maintained the majority of the time.
