By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — Several construction projects within the city call for patience on the part of drivers and pedestrians over the upcoming weeks.
City crews are tearing out the sidewalks on the perimeter of Public Square, West High Street and a section of East High Street as part of a downtown revitalization project. “They’ll be replacing sidewalks for the next few weeks,” said Mayor Richard Mavis. It will be an inconvenience; they hope to be out of the main area of activity for the Dan Emmett Festival.”
Mavis said the tree boxes will be left in and that the Shade Tree and Beautification Commission will be planting shade trees later this year.
The city is accepting bids for the upgrade of the intersection of West High and Sandusky streets. “We will make a similar intersection to what we have at Chestnut and Sandusky,” he said. “Bids are going to be opened this week and that project will begin sometime in late July. Plus, the state of Ohio is going to resurface Ohio 13 through town and we’ll have our own resurfacing. So people may have to have some patience.”
The new traffic signal project on Ohio 13 at Commerce Drive should get underway late this month or early in July. Mavis said that he and City Engineer Brian Ball met with the property owners on the east side of Ohio 13 across from Commerce Drive, and they are agreeable to being annexed into the city.
“The state of Ohio said we really needed to consider annexing this into the city because the traffic signal there is really not needed according to their standards. They said it wasn’t continual through the day; it’s busy all day, but the serious part of that is in the morning and the afternoon, so the light will remain green on Ohio 13 until people start exiting Commerce Drive,” he explained. “[ODOT] said they have to issue the permit; they also said they would contribute $100,000 to the project if we were moving forward with annexation. This is a Type 2 annexation, which is one where they get to stay in the township and also become part of the city.”
Law General Contracting was the low bidder on the $300,000 project. Mavis said it takes about 16 weeks to get the traffic signal pole, called a boom arm. Boom arms are manufactured as they are needed. The ones for Commerce Drive have been ordered.