Major road projects planned for this summer
Improvements planned for Akron Road and Broad Street
Waterline improvements will take place on Broad Street from the intersection of Lyman to Auble Street this summer. Photo by EMILY CANNING-DEAN
WADSWORTH – When it comes to road construction in Wadsworth, the state Route 94 project has received the lion’s share of the attention, but this summer improvements will be taking place on two of the city’s other main thoroughfares.
The entire portion of state Route 261 that runs through Wadsworth will be resurfaced this summer.
“This will be an ODOT project and will be very similar to the state Route 94 paving that was done about two years ago,” Service Director Robert Patrick said.
ODOT will be managing the project and paying for the majority of it, but council recently approved legislation to commit to the local portion of the nearly $1 million project. Wadsworth’s portion will be funded through the city’s street improvement program.
“The project will be awarded in late April or early May and the construction period is supposed to be June and July,” Patrick said. “It is a large project with multiple lanes in some areas and a long stretch, but it will be a nice improvement to another one of the city’s main arterials.”
Patrick said he isn’t sure what time of day much of the construction will take place, but added that during the Route 94 resurfacing a lot of the work was done at night which helped to minimize traffic headaches.
Also this summer will be waterline improvement work on Broad Street from the intersection of Lyman to Auble Street.
“We have the RFQ out on that and started advertising a couple of months ago,” Patrick said. “We are estimating the engineering cost will be over $50,000. We are hoping to award a bid for the engineering later this month and then get going on the engineering process.”
“Why are we sending out the engineering on this water line,” Councilor John Sharkey asked. “Is this something we can’t do ourselves?”
Patrick said the city’s engineering department is currently very busy with a number of projects and capital improvements.
“There also are some staffing concerns,” he said. “One of our engineers recently left and we are looking to see how the operation can best be handled in the future.”
Patrick said the city does see a cost savings from having its own engineering department, but added that on some larger projects it is more efficient to outsource.
“Right now we have a lot of capital projects going on, which is good because the city is moving forward to update much of our aging infrastructure that needs to be replaced,” he said.
The entire portion of state Route 261 that runs through Wadsworth will be resurfaced this summer.
“This will be an ODOT project and will be very similar to the state Route 94 paving that was done about two years ago,” Service Director Robert Patrick said.
ODOT will be managing the project and paying for the majority of it, but council recently approved legislation to commit to the local portion of the nearly $1 million project. Wadsworth’s portion will be funded through the city’s street improvement program.
“The project will be awarded in late April or early May and the construction period is supposed to be June and July,” Patrick said. “It is a large project with multiple lanes in some areas and a long stretch, but it will be a nice improvement to another one of the city’s main arterials.”
Patrick said he isn’t sure what time of day much of the construction will take place, but added that during the Route 94 resurfacing a lot of the work was done at night which helped to minimize traffic headaches.
Also this summer will be waterline improvement work on Broad Street from the intersection of Lyman to Auble Street.
“We have the RFQ out on that and started advertising a couple of months ago,” Patrick said. “We are estimating the engineering cost will be over $50,000. We are hoping to award a bid for the engineering later this month and then get going on the engineering process.”
“Why are we sending out the engineering on this water line,” Councilor John Sharkey asked. “Is this something we can’t do ourselves?”
Patrick said the city’s engineering department is currently very busy with a number of projects and capital improvements.
“There also are some staffing concerns,” he said. “One of our engineers recently left and we are looking to see how the operation can best be handled in the future.”
Patrick said the city does see a cost savings from having its own engineering department, but added that on some larger projects it is more efficient to outsource.
“Right now we have a lot of capital projects going on, which is good because the city is moving forward to update much of our aging infrastructure that needs to be replaced,” he said.