Pearl Road Widening Back on for 2013
City's fight pays off as state reverses decision to delay funding
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The second phase of the Pearl Road widening is back on track for next year after a months-long fight by Mayor Tom Perciak.
The Ohio Department of Transportation, which earlier this year pushed back funding until 2019, has reversed its decision and agreed to give the city $6 million in 2013.
"It's great news," Perciak said. "This is a project Strongsville needs."
The project will widen Pearl from where it narrows at Ellsworth all the way to the city limits at Boston Road.
Perciak lobbied state and federal officials to get the project back on schedule.
"I can't tell you how many trips to Columbus, how many phone calls, how many meetings this took," he said.
U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton was among those pushing Strongsville's agenda.
"The project is vital to easing traffic issues and ensuring the safety of this corridor," Sutton wrote in a March 8 letter to ODOT. "The city of Strongsville has invested considerable resources in ensuring this project remained under budget and on time.
City officials got word in April 2011 that the state had awarded the next phase of the Pearl Road widening project $6 million.
A week later, the city hired Euthenics Inc., a Cleveland civil engineering firm, to design the plans for about $900,000.
When ODOT, citing a funding crisis, pulled the funding in January, the city never slowed its planning.
"We didn't sit back and cry about it," Perciak said. "We went ahead and finished the engineering and we got the project shovel-ready."
The state money will pay about half the $12 million project. The city plans to contribute $3 million and has been casting around for the additional $3 to $4 million in additional grants.
Perciak said the widening is crucial to business development on Pearl Road and will provide potential manufacturing firms better access in and out of town when the city develops a new section of Foltz Industrial Park.
lyn
7:02 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
I was just rereading the article and Debbie's comment, and realized I had missed another glaring FALSEHOOD.
TRAFFIC.
REALLY?
I have lived very near this location for over 30 years, and the ONLY time I EVER saw a traffic problem was when Petitti first opened - maybe 5 cars backed up. However, at the Boston/Pearl intersection there is ONE problem. At evening rush, traffic heading west on Boston backs up at Pearl. How about fixing a REAL problem? Not some made up one.
So, the mayor is not concerned about 71/Howe/82, but this part of Pearl, where there is NEVER a traffic problem? Does he ever drive in these sections? Or, does he just use these reasons to justify his actions for doing things?
If I was Debbie, listening to his FAKE reasons for the widening (traffic on Pearl and for access to Foltz), I think I would have been rolling my eyes and saying, "really, are you kidding me? Did ODOT really buy that?"
Tom Brennan
10:43 am on Friday, June 8, 2012
Please, the mayor conveniently forgets to mention that the Catan family owns 49+ acres of undeveloped property on the south end of Pearl Road, that's the business interest that really matters. Meanwhile, after being closed for over a year he warns that the repairs to Albion Road near Bonnie Park are going to be really expensive. Never mind the fact that many of the residents of Ward 1 have been inconvenienced and had their safety compromised due to lengthened response times for police and fire. It's just too bad that pesky Metroparks property is not open to commercial development, maybe something would have been done by now.
KLF
9:26 am on Tuesday, June 12, 2012
This shows how the city administrators' agenda is out of touch with reality and bent on it's own agenda. Next election, I'll be sure to check the box not named Perciak (and others currently involved in this sham). Any idea how much they spent to put the welcome wall on 71N exit at 82? Fiscal responsibility in a tough economy is lacking to me here.
As Tom mentioned above, it is especially troubling in light of the needs of the residents of Albion Rd area. I don't even live near there and I'm shaking my head in disgust with all that is being done and what should be done and isn't.