Pearl Road Widening Still Set for August Despite Funding Shortfall

The city will not receive  to help pay for Phase 2 of the Pearl Road widening project, but construction is still scheduled to start in August.

Strongsville officials learned this week it won't get a share of state Issue 1 money this year.

But Lori Daley, design engineer for the city, said the state did offer a no-interest loan for nearly $2.3 million instead.

"We're still moving forward," Daley said. "We're exploring other funding."

So far, the city has a little over $7 million in grants for the $11.5 million project, which will widen Pearl up Stoney Hill and to the Strongsville border at Boston Road.

Mayor Tom Perciak said last year he hoped to amass at least $9.5 million in grants for the job and borrow the rest, if need be.

The city is in the middle of acquiring right of way for the project, and Perciak said he hopes to bid the project in the late spring.

Construction will take about a year, Daley said.

The project, which will widen Pearl from where it narrows at Ellsworth south to the county line, appeared to be in jeopardy early in 2012 when the Ohio Department of Transportation  pushed back funding until 2019.

But ODOT reversed the decision last summer and agreed to give the city $6 million in 2013.

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.

Daley said it's still possible Strongsville could snag a share of Issue 1 funding this year.

"There's always a chance some of the projects ahead of us might not go forward," she said.