WARREN, Ohio – Engineering work is set to begin on a new access road for the $800 million Kimberly-Clark Corp. manufacturing plant being built at the former Republic Steel site and other companies south of the property.
Trumbull County commissioners on Wednesday approved three engineering contracts totaling more than $2 million for the $17 million access road project that will connect the area south of the Kimberly-Clark plant to state Route 45, providing easier access to the Ohio Turnpike.
Gary Shaffer, Trumbull County deputy engineer, said his office was ready to begin working on the project in October or November 2025, but coordination and negotiations took time. The Western Reserve Port Authority’s legal team and the state’s legal team also are involved in the coordination, as well, due to the large scope of the project and the funding source.
“Friday, 11:59 p.m. we’re going to be vacating a section of Niles Warren River Road, aka Pine Avenue,” Shaffer said. “So for the next two, three years, that access is going to be difficult for those businesses to the south. But this access road will provide them even better access than they had before.”
The construction will be done in three phases, and each has a different engineering contract. The first phase involves the widening of Lane West Road, and a $299,000 contract was awarded to The Thrasher Group Inc. of Canton. For the second phase, a $383,000 contract was awarded to Glaus, Pyle, Schomer, Burns and Dehaven Inc. of Akron to reconstruct Burnett East Road, connecting Austintown-Warren Road to Highland.
The third phase will include properties in Warren, Howland and Weathersfield townships. A $1.34 million contract was awarded to MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown to build a road to connect Austintown-Warren Road to South Main Street to Deforest Road SE. This phase of the project will include the construction of a bridge over the Mahoning River.
Shaffer said there’s been a lot of coordination already, and all engineering firms will continue to work together to bring the project to fruition.
Funding for the engineering came from a subrecipient grant agreement between Trumbull County and the Western Reserve Port Authority through the Ohio Department of Development All Ohio Future Fund.
Shaffer said $15 million of the grant money is dedicated to construction, although additional funding is available, if needed, to complete the project.
Shaffer said all three phases of the project will happen concurrently, and the work is expected to conclude in 2029 or early 2030.
The Kimberly-Clark plant is under construction, and the company anticipates ramping up production to full capacity around the same time the new access road is completed.