HOWLAND, Ohio – More than two years in the making, the completion of a massive infrastructure project at one of the busiest interchanges in the Mahoning Valley stands to improve traffic flow and enhance public safety throughout the area, stakeholders said Friday.
It’s a legacy that made the disruptive construction project well worth the wait, officials emphasized.
Representatives of local businesses, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and officials from Trumbull County and Howland Township attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the $20.4 million diverging diamond project at the state Route 46 and state Route 82 interchange. The final cones and construction barricades were removed a week ago.
The interchange is a major gateway to one of the region’s busiest retail centers, anchored by the Eastwood Mall Complex, which draws approximately 13 million patrons each year.
“Think about what happens every holiday season,” said Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for the Cafaro Co., which owns the Eastwood Mall Complex. “Once Black Friday comes, it gets really busy around here.”
Bell said more than 33,000 motorists, on average, pass through the interchange every day, and those numbers are usually higher during the holidays. The new configuration allows for better traffic flow, alleviating the congestion and bottlenecks that in the past prompted serious safety concerns.
“It’s such a welcome thing for all the merchants at the Eastwood Complex,” Bell said.
Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said the interchange serves one of the busiest retail corridors in the country, and these improvements will help motorists get to and from their destinations safely. “It will help the retailers in this corridor thrive,” he said.
Moreover, Coviello credited Howland Township for rezoning areas to the south that will encourage additional retail growth. “It’s a big part of our economy in the Mahoning Valley,” he said.
For more than two years, motorists have faced lane closures and traffic disruption along state Routes 82 and 46 as work progressed on the project. However, the project was completed nine months ahead of schedule, said Gery Noirot, deputy director of ODOT’s District 4 office.
“Over the past couple of years, we recognize that the lane restrictions and ramp closures have been challenging,” he said. “These temporary inconveniences were necessary to ensure the long-term safety improvements. We’re confident that the benefits of safer roads, smoother traffic flow and enhanced infrastructure will far outweigh those disruptions.”
Noirot said the new diverging diamond is one of five in Ohio and the first one completed in northeastern Ohio. A two-year study completed in 2018 showed that the interchange was among the highest accident-prone intersections in the state.
“Our studies show that between 2012 and 2016, there were 159 crashes at this interchange, with over 20% of those resulting in injuries,” Noirot said.
ODOT also plans to make significant improvements to other intersections, especially at Route 82 and Howland-Wilson Road, where three traffic fatalities have occurred since 2003. Additional improvements are also slated for the intersection of Route 46 and Warren-Sharon Road, Noirot said.
Jim Kinnick, executive director of Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, applauded the work of all the stakeholders involved in the project. The new interchange reroutes older traffic lanes and includes new pavement, signals, striping, landscaping and lighting to improve motorist safety.
“This is a great day for our commuters in this region,” he said. “This is exactly what this area needed. This was Eastgate’s No. 1 priority in this region.”