MANSFIELD — An $1.5 million intersection improvement/roundabout project at the Cook/Illinois/Mansfield-Lucas roads intersection — in the works since 2019 — is expected to begin Monday, May 2.
Richland County Engineer Adam Gove said Wednesday the intersection and approach roadways will remain open to traffic while storm sewer/drainage/grading work is done.
“We ask that you please use extra caution in the work zone,” Gove said.
The intersection and approach roadways are currently scheduled to close on Tuesday, May 31, and will remain closed for 75 days, according to the engineer.
Updates to the closure date and duration will be provided when required, Gove said.
Construction costs are estimated at $1,353,906, according to Gove, who said a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation will cover 90 percent of those costs.
Shelly and Sands submitted the low bid for the project and will handle the construction.
“The road can only be closed during summer months while school is out,” the engineer has said, citing its close proximity to Madison South Elementary School. “The contract gives them 75 days (to do the work). It will be a summer project.”
A safety grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation will cover 90 percent of the construction cost. A grant from the Richland County Regional Planning Commission will cover 90 percent of inspection costs, estimated to be around $150,000 once the work is complete.
The proposal would increase safety at one of the county’s most dangerous intersections, Gove said in 2019.
A Richland County Planning Commission study a few years ago identified it as the ninth worst intersection in the county overall and the worst among those under the county’s jurisdiction.
Gove said there were 21 crashes at the intersection between 2015-2018, averaging five to six per year. Fifteen of the wrecks resulted in injuries.
He said planners considered a roundabout and a traffic signal system, determining the former was the best and safest way to proceed.
It will be the second roundabout in the county. The only other one was constructed in 2012 by the City of Mansfield at the intersection of Middle-Bellville and Straub roads at a cost of $500,000.
