JACKSON — A major county project along Mahoning Avenue will begin in earnest in about two weeks with a bridge replacement.

That work means a 60-day road closure in the immediate area — likely the first of many — but Mahoning County Engineer Patrick Ginnetti said the federally-funded project is on a much shorter timeline than many others of its scale, and inconveniences should not last beyond this fall.

The roughly $6.2 million project is designed to better accommodate the industrial businesses that operate in the area and make travel safer for commercial and passenger vehicles between state Route 45 and Duck Creek Road. It also will include improvements to Rosemont Road and add a large roundabout at the intersection of Mahoning Avenue and Bailey Road.

“It’s just a big industrial corridor project,” Ginnetti said. “A few years back, we had thought we received funding through federal appropriations, then the money never came. So, we went back to the drawing board, and we were able to secure funding through the (Economic Development Administration, under the U.S. Department of Commerce) along with (Ohio Public Works Commission) funds, and we have a TIF in Jackson Township that provides some funding.”

Ginnetti said some other, smaller funding sources also offset the cost and the remainder will come from his office’s budgeted funds.

A Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district is a local area designated to stimulate economic development, where property tax revenue increases above a certain threshold are reinvested into local infrastructure, usually toward roads, bridges, utilities and redevelopment in areas that may not be targeted for private investment.

Ginnetti said EDA provided $2,033,748 of the $6,210,833 for the project, and another $1,179,818 came from OPWC. The Jackson TIF provided $1.1 million, and the local government match is $1,397,267. Another $500,000 came from the Transportation Improvement District program of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

“With the types of industries that are along the corridor of Mahoning Avenue and Rosemont Road, it was a prime candidate for upgrades,” Ginnetti said. “With the increase that Macy’s had — they added a bunch of jobs a few years ago — and Mom’s Meals has been continually growing, and you have FedEx and Amazon that are out there, so it’ll help minimize the congestion in that area and move the traffic through much quicker and it’s also going to improve safety.”

Ginnetti said the large roundabout, which will be two lanes in all directions and broad enough to accommodate commercial and industrial vehicles, is a good device for reducing deadly crashes.

“One of the main purposes is to minimize the severity of accidents. It doesn’t eliminate them, but you take away the potential for T-bone collisions that commonly happen at four-way intersections,” he said. “You’ll still have sideswipes and rear-end collisions, and that’s driver error or driver impatience. It’ll take some time to adjust but once it gets up and running, it’s not going to take long for people to figure it out.

In recent years, roundabouts have been installed at Mathews and Sheridan Roads in Boardman and Five Points in Poland, and another two are planned for the intersection of state Route 46 and New Road in Austintown and Glenwood Avenue and Idlewild Road in Boardman.

Ginnetti said there will be some inconveniences as the project progresses, mostly on Mahoning Avenue.

“During construction, there will be periods when Mahoning is going to be closed at Bailey Road. Bailey will remain open the entire time, but Mahoning will be closed in sections while they’re building the roundabout,” he said. “There will be posted detours, plenty of signage and as much media notification as we can do to make people aware.”

Ginnetti said that, generally, any traffic on Mahoning east of Bailey Road will go to Route 45 or to Route 46 to get to the freeway, and anything west of Bailey will go to state Route 534.

PROGRESSION OF THE PROJECT

Ginnetti said the project was supposed to begin sooner.

“The contractor started doing a couple minor things along Bailey Road with pavement, getting the lanes ready for pavement shifts, but we ran into minor delays because the gas company did not relocate their lines when they agreed to,” he said. “So, fortunately, it’s not going to affect the project. With winter being here, the contractor is basically shut down so the gas company is in the process of doing their relocations now.”

The contract was awarded to North Jackson-based Shelly & Sands, whose facilities are located just north of the project area, which Ginnetti said may have given them an edge in bidding because their travel and equipment and material transport costs will be considerably lower than others.

The replacement of the bridge, near Liberty Steel, will start Feb. 16 and run through April, Ginnetti said.

Later in February and into March, Shelly will begin storm sewer installations along Rosemont Road, which will likely last through May, after which they will begin the widening work on Rosemont.

“Rosemont was a traditional county road that was never engineered. It grew basically from a farm-to-market road to what it is today,” Ginnetti said. “The first half, from Mahoning to the railroad tracks, if you drive out there, there’s some pretty big industrial type businesses and the road can’t support that type of industry. So, that section is going to be widened and built up to handle the type of traffic that’s on it.”

From the railroad tracks south to Blott Road will be repaved, he said. At the intersection of Rosemont and Mahoning, the turning radii will be expanded as well.

“Right now, if a big semi goes through, even if it’s empty, the back wheels are going to go over the grass because the radius is more supportive of a car than a truck,” he said.