A recent study ranked a five-way intersection at Market St., Western Reserve Rd. and SR 626 in North Lima 37th out of 200 of the most unsafe roadways in Ohio.
"We got a lot of rear-end collisions that happen all the time from people who try and sneak past the light and sneak past anyway," Paula Putnam of ODOT said, so the Ohio Department of Transportation has come up with a proposal, which they unveiled to the public at an open house.
They'd like to get rid of the five-way intersection by realigning State Route 626 so that it intersects with Market Street just south of Western Reserve. Officials would also create a cul-de-sac on Rte. 626 where it currently intersects with Western Reserve and Market St.
"We'll stop that five-legged interaction there, and we believe, our studies prove, that it will lessen the amount of congestion that's causing so many crashes," Putnam said.
However, with a big construction plan comes a lot of concerns and opinions.
"It's been a traffic disaster ever since they put 680 in there," John Ramun, who owns an area business, said.
"The traffic problem will not be eliminated by the culvert they propose. It's going to add to our problems,"Andy Ragen, who lives in the area, said.
The owners at Rita's fear they may lose business if the roads change. "People aren't going to drive by our store as much because they're not going to drive on Wodworth past us, so there's potential customers who won't drive by us anymore," Rita's owner Jill Klocek said.
The proposal's not a done deal yet. ODOT will take public comments for the next 30 days before they finalize the plans. Officials hope to start construction in 2011.
You can mail your public comments to:
M. Eric M. Czetli
District 4 Deputy Director
Attn: Mr. Jack Noble, P.E.
District 4 Planning and Programs Administrator
Ohio Department of Transportation
2088 South Arlington Road
Akron, OH 44306-4243
