Route 8 expansion project ready to roll
BOSTON HEIGHTS - The Ohio Department of Transportation's plans for turning Route 8 into a limited access highway from Route 303 north to Interstate 271 still have a ways to go before they are finalized, but they are not subject to major changes.
That was the word given by ODOT officials Monday at a meeting before about 75 area residents at the Holiday Inn on Hines Hill Road in Boston Heights.
ODOT District 4 Deputy Director Mohamed Darwish made clear from the outset that the meeting was informational only and not for seeking public input. "This is not a public hearing. This is not a public meeting; this is a project status meeting," said Darwish.
Rep. Steve LaTourette said the meeting was the result of a promise he made to residents in Northfield Center last March. LaTourette said he felt the residents did not adequately understand what the plans were. He said he told them he would arrange a meeting, insisting that representatives of ODOT explain the project before he would release $15 million in federal funding ODOT is counting on for the $100 million project.
The project is in two phases. Phase One will be from Twinsburg Road north to Interstate 271 and is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2007. Phase Two will be from Twinsburg Road south to Route 303 and is scheduled to begin in 2009. Both phases are slated to take about two years to complete.
The project involves building new interchanges at Route 8 for all roads within the project area south of Highland Road, except Twinsburg Road, which will lose its access to Route 8.
There will also be a new road between Boston Mills and Hines Hill roads. Motorists on Hines Hill Road wishing to go south on Route 8 will have to take this road to Boston Mills to get on Route 8. Likewise, motorists on Boston Mills wanting to go north on Route 8 will have to take the road to Hines Hill Road. He said that to facilitate traffic flow from Twinsburg Road to Route 8, a short service road off Hines Hill Road, roughly 350 feet west of Route 8, will be extended north to Twinsburg Road.
Darwish said Twinsburg Road will lose access because there must be a minimum of 1 mile between interchanges. Twinsburg Road is less than a mile from a planned Interstate 271 ramp, the entrance of which will be south of Highland Road.
Another reason to deny access at Twinsburg Road is because four businesses would be lost to make room for the project, according to Darwish.
Proposal offered for Twinsburg Road traffic
Summit County Engineer Greg Bachman said an idea for additional access to Route 8 would be a frontage road built by the county from Hines Hill Road to Twinsburg Road and ending at Highland Road in Macedonia, across from South Bedford Road. Bachman said the road is in the conceptual stage, little more than a line on a map, but he said he would be happy to work with community leaders in Boston Heights, Northfield Center and Macedonia to determine if there is interest.
Bachman said one potential problem with the proposal is the question of whether the county can afford it. LaTourette said he would do what he can to help get federal funds to the county for the project if it is determined the communities want it.
"I'm a pork barrel kind of guy," said LaTourette. "I'm happy to bring bucket loads of money to my Congressional district."
Robert Schneider, owner of Patio Enclosures on Highland Road in Macedonia, said the proposed road concerned him because it might create problems at the Highland Road/Route 8 intersection with additional traffic coming from Twinsburg Road.
"The access road will solve a problem, but it will exacerbate another problem," said Schneider.
Bachman said this would be looked at before such a road was created. Northfield Center resident Harriet Nied, whose family business, Nied M E Garden Center, is on Twinsburg Road, expressed unhappiness with both ODOT's plan to eliminate access to Route 8, as well as Bachman's proposal.
"This access road from Hines Hill to Highland Road is not acceptable," said Nied, adding that losing access will make it difficult for customers to reach businesses on Twinsburg Road and hurt those businesses.
Don Quist, owner of Tire Barn Auto Repair on Twinsburg Road at Route 8, said he would like to see an interchange at Twinsburg Road, even if it means he has to sell his business to ODOT.
"The community would be better off," said Quist.
[HH-T] Editor's note: Saunders is a reporter for the News Leader, a sister paper.
E-mail: jsaunders @ recordpub.net
Phone: 440-232-4055