BOARDMAN — The Ohio Department of Transportation has announced changes to its multi-million-dollar renovation plans for U.S. Route 224, which are set to begin next year.

In early 2024, ODOT announced its intention to complete a massive $20.3 million overhaul of the township’s busiest thoroughfare, citing safety concerns.

ODOT Spokesman Ray Marsch said at the time that more than 30,000 vehicles use the 1.7-mile stretch of Route 224 from Market Street to Tiffany Boulevard every day, and a five-year study showed more than 1,900 crashes along the corridor.

The original project proposal sought to add eastbound and westbound lanes, remove some red lights, add a central median strip along with turning lanes and U-turns, and implement right-in, right-out only turns. The U-turns were planned for Marinthana Avenue and the western entrance to the Shops at Boardman Park, near Wendy’s and Old Navy.

On Thursday, ODOT announced it has changed some of the proposed features of the project after hearing from the public.

The project still will include additional eastbound and westbound through lanes, but it also will add dedicated left and right turn lanes at intersections throughout the corridor, “as determined by the capacity analysis.”

The project will remove two signals at unspecified intersections, reduce the number of driveways without traffic signals, limit left turns and add “improved pedestrian facilities” within the corridor.

Stakeholder involvement was conducted in August 2023. Feedback was received from several participants and meetings took place with affected stakeholders to discuss proposed impacts, ODOT stated in a news release.

After that, a virtual public open house was available from Jan. 29, 2024, through March 1, 2024.

The statement says that 53 participants provided comments from the virtual open house, and stakeholder and public comments have been summarized and responses have been posted to the ODOT project webpage: U.S. 224 Safety Improvements | Ohio Department of Transportation.

As a result of that input, ODOT is implementing changes to the project.

From Market Street (state Route 7) to Marinthana Avenue, ODOT will replace the proposed concrete median with a channelizing device to allow for eastbound left turns onto Sheldon Avenue and Marinthana Avenue. In doing so, it will convert Sheldon and Marinthana to all-in / right-out only turns, and remove the proposed eastbound U-turn and loon at Marinthana Avenue.

A loon is the term for the expanded apron along a median that gives larger vehicles like semis room to make a U-turn.

From Southern Boulevard to Boardman Park, the project will allow a protected westbound left-turn and passenger car U-turn at the 224-Southern Boulevard intersection to accommodate Tanglewood Drive and other north side properties.

ODOT also will install another channelizing device in the median between Southern Boulevard and Tanglewood Drive and convert Tanglewood Drive to all-in / right-out only turns.

At the Shops at Boardman Park, ODOT will retain the traffic signal at Applewood Commons.

It will remove the proposed westbound U-turn at the Shops West entrance by Wendy’s and Old Navy, and remove a proposed eastbound U-turn at Shops East and Applewood Boulevard, restripe the southern approach for left, through / right turns and update lane use signs and add protected northbound left turns up to the traffic signal.

From South Avenue to Tiffany Boulevard, ODOT will remove the proposed eastbound U-turn at South Avenue and install a channelizing device in the center of Route 224 instead of a proposed concrete median.

ODOT also proposes curb ramps on the northwest and southwest corners of the intersection with Tiffany Boulevard, with pedestrian signals and a crosswalk across the western approach of Route 224.

The project — slated from spring 2026 through fall of 2027 — will be paid for by ODOT Preservation and Safety funds, ODOT’s Transportation Review Advisory Council and the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. The website estimates that the project will cost $3 million for design, $3 million to obtain necessary right-of-way for the new traffic lanes, and $14.3 million for construction.

During this period, motorists and Boardman residents can expect other major projects along Route 224 just west of the ODOT project, including Boardman’s $47 million flood mitigation effort largely funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a Glenwood Avenue restriping project planned by Mahoning County.

Officials said those two projects overlap in some ways, and they are working together to execute them simultaneously and seamlessly.

The Glenwood project will reduce the road’s travel lanes from two in each direction to one each way, with a central turning lane and proposed bike lanes, and will add a roundabout at Wildwood Drive.

The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission in April also began a bridge replacement project in the Starrs Corners area of Boardman, near the Canfield Township border. That project is expected to extend into summer of 2026, also overlapping with ODOT, Boardman and Mahoning County’s projects.