YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city’s Board of Control on Thursday approved the next steps in both the Mahoning River dam removal project and the construction of a new FirstEnergy transmission line south of the river and downtown.
According to Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, the contract for the design phase of the dam removal project includes the three dams at Crescent, Marshall and Center streets.
The contract, not to exceed $743,192, is being awarded to Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. and will be paid for through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program.
Stephanie Dyer, the environmental program manager for the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, said the most labor intensive of the three Youngstown dams will be the one near Crescent Street, which is a full structure dam. The other two dams are more rock rubble remnants of dams, which will mean moving the rocks and creating grade control as the water continues downstream.
Removal of the industrial-era lowhead dams also includes testing and treatment of the sediment behind the dams. The entire process typically will take another two years, Dyer said.
“Nothing will be done physically to any of the structures or the remnants until we understand the sediment characteristics and how it is going to be removed from the stream and treated and disposed of,” Dyer said.
So far, Dyer said it’s fortunate that sediment has not been deemed hazardous by the Ohio EPA at the other locations. Four dams have been removed since the reclamation project of the Mahoning River waterway started – Lowellville, Struthers, Summit Street and Leavittsburg. The removal of another dam in Warren, near Main Street, the Cleveland Cliff property and the new Kimberly-Clark site, is underway.
Funding is in place for the three Youngstown dam removals. Youngstown received funding before the Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed the project, according to Dyer, who added that project planners continue to pursue funding for the Girard dam, which will be the final dam to be removed.
The Board of Control also approved a contract with Appalachian Field Service for $20,150, which includes multiple right-of-way option agreements for the construction of a 6-mile FirstEnergy 138 kilovolt transmission line. The parcels involved in the contract are either owned by the city or by its Land Reutilization Program.
This is part of the new location plan from 2025, which places the lines along the Mahoning River and across from Wean Park.