City Awards Contract for Lincoln Avenue Project
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown State University students will be inconvenienced this fall as Lincoln Avenue, a street that cuts through the southern part of the campus, undergoes reconstruction. The project is a component of the campus development plan announced April 19.
Work should begin in the next two weeks on the Lincoln Avenue streetscape and safety enhancement project, says Chuck Shasho, Youngstown deputy director of public works. The Board of Control awarded a $1.4 million contract for the work Thursday to Parella-Pannunzio Inc., Youngstown.
The work will take place along Lincoln, which links Fifth and Wick avenues. The city will close the street most of the time it takes to complete the work, projected at 120 days, so inconvenience is held to a minimum, Shasho said.
The project encompasses repaving sidewalks, improvements, storm sewers, enhanced crosswalks and signage, Shasho said. He would like to see the project, get underway around July 1.
That would take the work well into the fall semester, which starts Aug. 24. The project was scheduled for 2017 but the McNally administration decided to move up the timeline.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” Shasho said. “We want to get this project in and we know there’s going to be some inconveniences.”
In addition, the Public Works Department will open bids June 24 for a major upgrade to Wick Avenue that is expected to take about a year, another component of the plan to upgrade the YSU campus and surrounding neighborhoods.
Mayor John A. McNally, chairman of the Board of Control, agreed that the projects will cause “a small amount of inconvenience” but that people want the Wick and Lincoln projects done. The projects are “really going to enhance” the two streets, he said.
YSU has worked “very closely” with the city over the past several months to coordinate the project, said YSU spokesman Ron Cole. The university is putting together plans, detours and communications to ensure students are aware of the changes.
Pictured: Rendering of the reconstructed Lincoln Avenue adjacent to the YSU campus.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
