By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The tough winter left one of the main traffic arteries in Galion in rough shape but hopefully that will soon be a distant memory.
Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary met with representatives from the Ohio Department of Transportation and local media Thursday to review the upcoming construction of the State Route 61 and State Route 598 widening project.
“The City nor ODOT expected to be sitting here on May 1 with 61 in the condition it’s in,” O’Leary explained. “Some of the utilities moved out of the way, no construction going. I know locals wonder, ‘are they ever going to maintain that street?’
“We have a little bit in the project area but in a few weeks, because that will all be built up all the way down to the mud underneath, it seemed kind of foolish to go out there (and) tie up traffic to do pot hole patching,” O’Leary said.
Well, locals can wonder no longer. The beginning stages of the widening project will tentatively start on Monday with signs being installed. ODOT will continue with signal work on Wednesday and will implement the one-way northbound traffic lane on SR 61 by Friday. Phase 2 will begin on May 12.
“The plan that is going to roll out as earlier as next week, I think the City accepts the fact that what ODOT has come up with is the only way . . . that we can have assurance that the project ends, that it’s completed this year,” said O’Leary.
He referenced the downtown construction project that went on in Bucyrus beginning in 2009.
“No one expected that to turn in to what it did and the whole notion for the city government and our city tax payers and users of the state system there—that wintering over is something that I think everybody agreed we have to avoid.”
Currently the State Route 61 and 598 widening project is expected to be completed by the end of October, though that timeline could be changed due to the weather.
“The City believes if we didn’t get started, the completion of the project could collide with the Santa Claus Parade. I mean, we could literally be out here in December doing stuff,” O’Leary said. “Nobody wants construction—aspects of construction—nobody wants to be doing (that) as you get into Thanksgiving and beyond. The City doesn’t want to be out paving after mid-November.”
ODOT Public Information Officer Christine Myers said it is not unusual for them to have to adjust dates as projects proceed in urban settings.
“We sometimes encounter unanticipated, brief delays. It could be relocating utilities; it could be infrastructure, I mean you have a lot of infrastructure in a small area,” Myers said about unintended delays. “It certainly is not anything that is new to us or to the Department where we have to kind of adjust our project schedules in order to work around these type of issues. And they do come up in an urban paving project.”
Area Engineer Eric Calvert will be overseeing the construction for ODOT from the district headquarters in Ashland. Jeff Labaki, District 3 Project Engineer, will be working directly with the contractor.
Calvert said the project has been revised to maintain one lane of traffic northbound-only on the west side of the road between Grove Ave. and the Harding Way intersection for the initial phase. After the east side of the road is constructed, traffic will be moved to the west side in order to complete work on the road. That project is estimated to take between 8 and 10 weeks to be completed.
Cherry St. will be northbound traffic only.
Avita Health Systems has been involved in the plans for the initial phase. Access into the hospital will have to go in and around local streets. All access into the two main entrances off Portland Way will also only be available to northbound traffic.
Once work is completed south of the Harding Way intersection, ODOT will being work north of the intersection. Labaki said they will be closing the structure for 90 days. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained on the north side of the structure during the whole construction phase. The public should expect multiple shifts throughout the project.
The queue of traffic is a very common problem along these routes but O’Leary warned it will only get worse once the construction begins.
“We certainly prefer to keep the traffic out of the park and through the neighborhoods,” O’Leary said. “We’re going to try to assist each other’s projects in getting along but at a certain date, the bridge becomes a lynchpin of all this project coordination.”
O’Leary noted there is an ongoing conversation among the merchants in Galion West. The public will still be able to have access to Subway and McDonalds from the Galion West parking lot. Businesses along that route are looking into putting in a privately constructed temporary road, “which will be really important when they get into the commercial side of the project,” said O’Leary. He didn’t know how much this temporary road would be used but believed that any shedding of traffic along Portland Way will benefit everyone.
Should this temporary road be constructed, it will be done in phases along access points. The businesses have 10 weeks to make a decision on the construction.
O’Leary said there may be some savings in terms of catching the project up in the end but those totals won’t be calculated for another 18 months. Should any savings be seen, it will be split between ODOT and the City of Galion.
The bridge will tentatively be closed in early July to begin work on that portion of the project. The bridge will be widened enough to maintain three lanes.
Myers said citizens can keep up-to-date with projects closures and changes through ODOT’s website or its Facebook and Twitter page. Local media will also receive updates from ODOT.
Below is a press release given to media earlier this week from Galion Police Chief Brian Saterfield concerning the SR 598 project.
The widening project for SR 598 is set to begin on Monday, May 5, 2014. The project is scheduled to run through the end of October of 2014. The initial phase of the project will be the widening of Portland Way South from Grove Ave. to the Harding Way intersection. Detouring traffic throughout this project will be a necessity.
Beginning the week of Monday, May 5th, Portland Way South will become a one-way street for northbound traffic starting at Grove Ave. to the Harding Way intersection. Portland Way South will maintain two-way traffic to the south of Grove Ave.
Southbound traffic on Portland Way (SR 598) will be detoured at the Harding Way intersection eastbound on Harding Way (SR 61) to SR 19, south on SR 19 to SR 288 and then westbound to SR 61.
Once the bridge construction on SR 61 just north of SR 309 is completed the detour will cause through traffic to divert to SR 61 to SR 19.
Local traffic to Galion Community Hospital will be detoured to Clymer Ave. to Grove Ave. We will be posting “NO PARKING” signs on Clymer Ave. during this temporary detour to allow for through traffic on Clymer Ave., including emergency vehicles.
The City of Galion will continue to update our community on the detours as they change throughout this project. We are asking for your patience throughout this project and that you adhere to the posted detours.