City prepares for 2017 street improvement program
Proposed improvements total roughly $1 million
City officials are planning on improvements for a number of streets in 2017. Photo by EMILY CANNING-DEAN
WADSWORTH – A number of city streets are slated for asphalt resurfacing and other improvements through this year’s street improvement program.
Service Director Robert Patrick provided the public ways committee with a list of streets proposed for improvement this year Jan. 11.
“Just as we have the last couple of years we are bringing this to you in January so we can go out to bid earlier and hopefully get better pricing,” Patrick said.
Streets proposed for asphalt resurfacing include Akron Road, West Street from High Street to Wolf Avenue, Fairlawn Avenue, Ohio Avenue, Park Court and Lucas Court.
A large portion of the Akron Road resurfacing will be funded through the Ohio Department of Transportation, but the city’s portion of the funding will come out of this year’s street improvement program fund, Patrick said.
“The project on West Street is also a very large project,” Patrick said. “That is estimated at about $300,000.”
Partial depth overlay preservation is being planned for portions of Seville Road west of state Route 57.
Concrete slab join replacement is proposed for West Good Avenue, Baldwin Street, Portage Street, Third Street, Hillsdale Circle, David’s Cove and part of West Street.
The program will also include crack sealing on a number of streets. The city’s street department will likely handle crack sealing on low traffic residential roads, while a contractor will complete crack sealing needed on roads with a higher traffic volume.
Patrick also proposed a cape seal preservation program for streets including Grace Drive, Wadsworth Road and Farr Avenue.
Without the cape seal preservation program, the estimated cost of this year’s street improvement program is approximately $911,000. The cape seal program is estimated at about $72,000.
“These are just estimates as we have not gone out to bid yet,” Patrick said.
The street program is funded through a .01 percent tax increase that voters approved in 2011 which supports an aggressive 10-year project to fix roads that are in need of repair throughout the city.
Patrick told members of the committee that without the cape seal preservation program, the street improvement fund would be left with an ending balance of about $160,000. If the cape seal program is included the ending balance would be a little less than $100,000. He asked committee members which option they would prefer to go with.
“I think we need to go with the second option (by including the cape seal),” Councilor David Williams said. “We will still have a balance in the fund and when you look at overall expenditures it is still way less than prior years.”
Councilor Patricia Haskins agreed.
“One thing is if we are taking tax money for this purpose I think people expect it to be used,” she said.
Once council approves legislation to go out for bids, Patrick said he will commence with the bidding out of the asphalt portion of the program first, then the concrete portion. He said the cape sealing program would likely be the last portion to be bid out.
Service Director Robert Patrick provided the public ways committee with a list of streets proposed for improvement this year Jan. 11.
“Just as we have the last couple of years we are bringing this to you in January so we can go out to bid earlier and hopefully get better pricing,” Patrick said.
Streets proposed for asphalt resurfacing include Akron Road, West Street from High Street to Wolf Avenue, Fairlawn Avenue, Ohio Avenue, Park Court and Lucas Court.
A large portion of the Akron Road resurfacing will be funded through the Ohio Department of Transportation, but the city’s portion of the funding will come out of this year’s street improvement program fund, Patrick said.
“The project on West Street is also a very large project,” Patrick said. “That is estimated at about $300,000.”
Partial depth overlay preservation is being planned for portions of Seville Road west of state Route 57.
Concrete slab join replacement is proposed for West Good Avenue, Baldwin Street, Portage Street, Third Street, Hillsdale Circle, David’s Cove and part of West Street.
The program will also include crack sealing on a number of streets. The city’s street department will likely handle crack sealing on low traffic residential roads, while a contractor will complete crack sealing needed on roads with a higher traffic volume.
Patrick also proposed a cape seal preservation program for streets including Grace Drive, Wadsworth Road and Farr Avenue.
Without the cape seal preservation program, the estimated cost of this year’s street improvement program is approximately $911,000. The cape seal program is estimated at about $72,000.
“These are just estimates as we have not gone out to bid yet,” Patrick said.
The street program is funded through a .01 percent tax increase that voters approved in 2011 which supports an aggressive 10-year project to fix roads that are in need of repair throughout the city.
Patrick told members of the committee that without the cape seal preservation program, the street improvement fund would be left with an ending balance of about $160,000. If the cape seal program is included the ending balance would be a little less than $100,000. He asked committee members which option they would prefer to go with.
“I think we need to go with the second option (by including the cape seal),” Councilor David Williams said. “We will still have a balance in the fund and when you look at overall expenditures it is still way less than prior years.”
Councilor Patricia Haskins agreed.
“One thing is if we are taking tax money for this purpose I think people expect it to be used,” she said.
Once council approves legislation to go out for bids, Patrick said he will commence with the bidding out of the asphalt portion of the program first, then the concrete portion. He said the cape sealing program would likely be the last portion to be bid out.