Kettering library's driveway gets redo
Accidents, design lead to decision to spend $24K on fix a year after opening.
Taxpayers are footing the bill for a rebuilt driveway entrance to the Dayton Metro Library Kettering branch after library officials deemed the year-old roadway to be hazardous.
The driveway design met code, but was the cause of accidents and complaints, said library spokeswoman Jane Klose.
“Code is one thing, but how it is working is another,” Klose said. “The big issue we’re having is the rate of speed. People are turning in too fast.”
The repairs at the library, located at 3496 Far Hills Ave., will cost the library $24,200, and will be paid out of a bond issue contingency fund. The city will also pay $6,000 to move and reconstruct a rainwater catch basin, but that was already in the city’s plans, Kettering City Engineer Steve Bergstresser said. Klose said a woman’s wheel came off in September after she took the turn and hit something in the driveway, which is divided by a plant-filled concrete median. Another driver unsuccessfully sought compensation after her vehicle was damaged when she hit a bump.
“Our insurance said there was no liability in that situation,” Klose
said. “The driveway is made to code.”
Bergstresser said the driveway design didn’t take into consideration that the city storm sewer catch basin was in the radius of where people turned into the library. Drivers were going up on the curb and striking the catch basin, he said.
Bergstresser said long-term city plans had included moving that catch basin, but the library’s driveway problems moved up the timetable. The work, which includes adding a second catch basin to accommodate rainwater flow, will be done at city expense, he said.
Workers from Diamond Concrete and Excavating began reconstructing the library driveway apron on Monday. The bump is being removed and the turning radius widened, Klose said.
Drivers are to temporarily enter at the Carlyle House entrance next door until the project is done, which is expected to be by Oct. 17, Klose said.
The Kettering branch opened in October 2016 after a $5.98 million, year-long renovation. Voters in 2012 approved a property tax bond issue to revamp the Dayton Metro Library system. Klose said the additional cost for the driveway will be paid out of that money as part of the contingency fund set up for each project.
Klose said the Kettering branch design was limited by the need to stay within the existing property footprint and to close the old entrance driveway to the north because of a telephone pole that had also been the source of accidents. The library’s former exit driveway was converted into a library entrance and a two-way exit that is shared with the Carlyle House.
“We made the best use of the land we had,” said Klose. “I think people had hoped we’d be able to do more than the landlocked place allowed.”