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STREET REPAIRS

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Vivian Moon View Drop Down
MUSA Council
MUSA Council


Joined: May 16 2008
Location: Middletown, Ohi
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: STREET REPAIRS
    Posted: Aug 03 2013 at 8:02am
Posted: 12:00 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013

City roads have improved, but more work is needed

By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN —

This year’s has been one of the most aggressive street paving programs in the city in years.

City Council had mandated to city staff that it wants to see at least $2 million in local funds invested into local streets being repaired. This does not include large projects, such as Yankee Road or South Main Street.

And City Council’s finance subcommittee wants to see it continue for next year.

“It’s nice this year,” said Councilman Josh Laubach, chair of the subcommittee. “It looks better, but it no way gets the job done.”

The job this year had the price tag of $2 million, and Laubach said the city needs to spend at least that much for next year. Most of that money was paid for by utility payments, but the city had to come up with about 25 percent to equal $2 million from other areas in the 2013 budget.

The largest chunk of the $2 million includes $1.4 million being spent on a dozen streets, which equaled a collective 4-1/2 miles, for this year’s local street paving program. All but one of the dozen streets has been repaved, said Middletown Public Works and Utilities Director Scott Tadych. Carmody Boulevard from Columbia Avenue to Germantown Road will be repaved by the end of the summer, he said.

While Tadych said the $2 million is not keeping up with the need, it’s significantly more local dollars being invested than what’s been dedicated to paving in the past. It’s only been a few hundred thousand dollars in the years prior.

“It’s great for us,” he said. “It would be great if we could continue doing it. Obviously, the need is out there.”

Tadych said his department could easily spend twice that amount, which would just be keeping up with the need for improved streets.

The remainder of the $2 million includes a little more than $171,000 for city crews to pave nine local streets, which equaled about 2-1/4 miles. The remainder of the money will be spent on repaving Locust and Thorn Hill lanes, which residents of those roads will need to negotiate the construction of a water main project. About $400,000 of that $966,000 project will be spent on paving.

While it’s not part of the $2 million City Council mandate, nearly $1.38 million is being spent on the second phase of the Yankee Road reconstruction and widening. Yankee Road from MADE Industrial Drive to Todhunter Road will be closed beginning either on Aug. 19 or 20 for three months.

“The closure is so we can get the construction done faster,” Tadych said. “And it’s more cost-effective if we can close it down. To keep Yankee open, it would cost additional money to maintain traffic.”

The road will be widened to three lanes and “designed to handle the truck traffic,” said Tadych.

The three-phase widening project will, when it’s done, see nearly $9 million in federal, state and local money being spent. Phase one was a $3.1 million project to widen Yankee from Oxford State Road to Made Industrial Drive. Phase three is a $4.6 million project to reconstruct and widen Yankee from Lafayette Avenue to Oxford State Road.

The corridor is key for companies, including AK Steel, SunCoke Middletown and Pilot Chemical, which have invested millions of dollars in their facilities and employ hundreds of people.

ODOT Jobs and Commerce and JobsOhio have provided funding for the second phase of the Yankee Road widening project, mostly in part to Pilot Chemical’s expansion of its Middletown facility.

“One of the things they needed was the road to be fixed up through there,” Tadych said. “This is 100 percent funded from (the state).”

Crews are also finishing up the concrete work along South Main Street and will soon start on repaving the eight-block historic district. The project, which is just more than $1 million, has already had the conduits for the new street lights installed.

In November we must make sure that our council members continue to set money aside for street repairs.
City Council must start using our tax dollars for our NEEDS and not their WANTS

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Bocephus View Drop Down
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Joined: Jun 04 2009
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bocephus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug 03 2013 at 12:10pm
Wonder how many streets they could have paved if they weren't buying up all the dilapidated buildings downtown?
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VietVet View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug 03 2013 at 12:49pm
Wonder how many streets could have been paved if they would have left the money in the street repair fund back in the 80's? When are you city leaders going to return that money you took for emergency use back then?   Been a few decades. The voters did you a favor back then. When are you going to return that favor?
I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.
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Vivian Moon View Drop Down
MUSA Council
MUSA Council


Joined: May 16 2008
Location: Middletown, Ohi
Status: Offline
Points: 4187
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Vivian Moon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug 03 2013 at 4:30pm

Vet
    My research is starting to show that the 1980’s is when City Hall started raiding the funds and spending money that they didn’t have on their WANTS. Then they started the Shell Game.  They didn't cut back or control their labor cost and we are now paying the price for the sins of past Council People.
    Then every time City Hall got into trouble they would take their empty tin cup to Armco begging for a bail out…and now those days are gone.
    And then City Hall took their empty tin cup to HUD……..

 

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Pacman View Drop Down
Prominent MUSA Citizen
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pacman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug 03 2013 at 6:09pm
Vet,

We'll get those funds reapplied to street repair when the citizens step forward to force the city to hold a vote to abolish that ordinance and replace the funds into a road maintenance account.  Otherwise, you can forget it.

PacmanCool
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