West Federal obstacle course continues

YOUNGSTOWN — The trouble getting around downtown because of the West Federal Street project should be resolved by the end of the week.

That won’t come soon enough for some motorists who’ve been banned at times from driving on one of downtown’s busiest streets during an improvement project.

Motorists driving to work downtown this morning had to do an end around West Federal Street, closed from Fifth Avenue to Wick Avenue.

Parella-Pannunzio Inc., an Austintown company doing the repair work on West Federal, closed that street as well as the side streets of South Hazel and South Phelps streets late Monday to pave. The company was supposed to reopen the streets before rush hour today, said Charles T. Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

But West Federal was closed this morning causing traffic backups because motorists had to use West Commerce or West Boardman streets at Fifth or Wick avenues in order to get around downtown.

Parella-Pannunzio finished about 99 percent of the paving Monday and will do the rest today, weather permitting, Shasho said.

West Federal and the side streets were temporarily closed because motorists have ignored the parking ban on the main street since the project began in April, Shasho said. The contractor has worked around the parked cars on West Federal, but couldn’t do that during the paving phase of the project, he said.

The city didn’t issue an advisory to the media and the public about the temporary street closures because motorists have ignored previous ones about the parking ban, Shasho said.

The company will stripe the street either Wednesday or Thursday, he said, and the improvement project, which cost about $500,000, should be done by the end of the week.

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator or vindy.com