Marks Road Could Reopen Next Summer

City officials believe they can fast-track a project to replace a culvert under Marks Road and get the street reopened next June.

Strongsville abruptly closed the road earlier this month after a Cuyahoga County inspector said the corrugated metal pipe under Marks Road is ready to collapse. 

Marks remains closed between Lunn Road and the railroad tracks.

The culvert isn't scheduled to be replaced till 2014.

But Mayor Tom Perciak said Monday the city has been meeting with officials from Cuyahoga and Lorain counties and Columbia Township to do "everything we can to move up the timetable."

Perciak said he believes the project can be finished by June 2013.

"That's a year sooner than we thought," he said.

City Engineer Ken Mikula said the project will take a lot of hard work and cooperation between the agencies. The size of the new culvert and materials are still being discussed, he said.

The city is responsible for maintaining culverts, but county engineers handle inspections.

Mikula said officials have been watching the culvert for awhile, and inspectors notified the city in a Nov. 30 letter that it was time to act.

"In their opinion, failure (of the culvert) is imminent," Mikula said.

A news release from the county said the pipe has "experienced severe deterioration. The Bridge Inspection Division of the Department of Public Works has identified some critical findings in the pipe and the adjacent fill that have warranted the closing. There are cracks, flattening and the beginning of some buckled areas within the structure that have also caused failures to the guardrail."