MANSFIELD — Local costs for Mansfield’s Main Street Corridor Improvement project just got lower.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry announced Tuesday night the Ohio Department of Transportation will be contributing an additional $3 million toward the downtown project.
Mansfield engineer Bob Bianchi said ODOT determined the Main Street project was an “excellent candidate” for additional transportation alternative planning funds.
As a result, the Richland County Board of Commissioners pulled its $450,000 fee waiver — since the additional contribution from ODOT closed the funding, Bianchi said.
Mansfield’s local share of the more than $19 million project has now been reduced from $5,944,398.68 to $3,394,398.68, according to the city engineer.
Excavators and equipment actively began working on the project earlier this week.
“We are grateful for ODOT’s continued partnership with Mansfield,” Bianchi said. “Without their assistance, we couldn’t build a lot of the transportation projects that we do.”
(Below is a podcast, hosted by Richland Source Deputy Managing Editor Carl Hunnell, which includes talk of the Main Street project with Bianchi.)
Trimble Road/Park Avenue intersection
Also at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Mansfield lawmakers voted in favor of accepting a $639,000 grant from ODOT to replace and upgrade the traffic signals at the intersection of Trimble Road and Park Avenue West.
It was one of more than two dozen road safety projects announced in May 2024 that target areas with a history of severe and deadly crashes.
The total project is estimated at $763,500 with $124,500 coming from local funds, according to Bianchi.
He told Richland Source on Monday the project would likely not be done until 2028 due to the need to acquire various right-of-way agreements.
In other action Tuesday, City Council:
— voted against the annexation of 9.554 acres of land in the city into Washington Township.
— approved a then-and-now certificate in the amount of $15,063.84 to MG Energy. The Mansfield Fire Department contracted in January for an emergency repair to a water heater at Station 4 prior to submitting a purchase order.
— approved a plan to revise community reinvestment area requirements, designating housing officers to administer the program.
— accepted $200,000 from the Richland County Foundation and $200,000 from the Milliron Foundation to be used in remodeling the former bathhouse at Liberty Park.
— approved seeking bids for new traffic signals at Ohio 39/Mulberry Street, Brookwood Way/Fourth Street and Cline Avenue/Marion Avenue.
— approved vacating a portion of Springmill Street between North Mulberry Street and Oak Hill Place, retaining the utility rights and easements therein.