US20 in Ohio: Road Widening in Ashtabula County

US Route 20 in northeastern Ohio’s Ashtabula County will be widened, beginning in early 2009. Here is the story from The Star Beacon:

County finalizes Route 20 widening
By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer Star Beacon

JEFFERSON — Saybrook Township residents are about a month away from seeing the start of construction on the Route 20 widening project.

Ashtabula County commissioners, Tuesday, approved the final resolution for the relocation of the sanitary sewer infrastructure as well as the contract with the Ohio Department of Transportation for the relocation of the sanitary sewer infrastructure.

The project consists of the improvement of .6 miles of Route 20 between North Bend Road and Woodman Avenue by widening the standard four 12-foot lanes with a curb/gutter and dedicated left turn lane where necessary as well as improve the intersection radii.

The county will pay 100 percent of the cost of relocating the sanitary sewer system as it owns the system. The cost for the county’s portion of the project is estimated at $60,760, said Commissioner Dan Claypool.

The total cost of the widening project is about $3.7 million.

The project study area is located on West Prospect Road (Route 20) and begins at the intersection of McNutt Avenue on the west and ends near the intersection of Kain Avenue, on the east, said Paula Putnam, ODOT/District 4 Public Information Officer. This section has been ranked statewide in the top 350 of the Highway Safety Program (HSP) for years 1993-1999.

The area between North Bend Road and Woodman Avenue was chosen for widening, resurfacing and drainage upgrades, because this section experiences the highest crash frequencies. This section has also received much of western Ashtabula’s commercial and retail growth over the past 20 to 30 years, Putnam said.

The project is slated to begin Jan. 14.




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