North Nantucket Drive to reopen

Move aims to relieve congestion on west side

A street barricaded for almost 25 years will become a new through street on Lorain’s west side. Lorain City Council voted 9-1 March 4 to open North Nantucket Drive to connect the Williamsburg Heights and St. James Reserve subdivisions. Currently, North Nantucket Drive heads east off Leavitt Road. Traffic markers and “dead end” signs block drivers from connecting to the continuation of North Nantucket Drive, Williamsburg Drive and eventually to Cooper Foster Park Road. North Nantucket Drive also

connects to Narragansett Boulevard, which leads to multiple streets in the neighborhoods north of Cooper Foster Park Road and west of Oberlin Avenue. Lane closures for reconstruction of Cooper Foster Park Road have made it necessary to have more ways for drivers to get around Lorain’s west side, said Councilmanat-Large Joe Koziura and Ward 4 Councilman Greg Argenti. Council passed the legislation as an emergency, meaning the barricade can be removed at any time. As of March 8, there was no exact date when the street would open, said City Engineer Dale Vandersommen.

There is a stone section of road between the two paved sections. Paving depends on the weather because a city crew or contractor cannot pour concrete in cold temperatures, Vandersommen said. In 1994, the city Planning Commission recommended North Nantucket Drive to be through street, but Council voted to close it, Koziura said. “I just don’t see where Council ever had the authority on streets, whether to open or close them, in any legislation,” he said. “I know it passed and we’re supposed to amend this thing.” Opening the road is important for responding safety forces, Koziura said, and he agreed with removing the blockage. “Especially now with Cooper Foster Park (Road), construction there, the traffic is terrible,

no question,” he said. Koziura said he has received numerous phone calls, pro and con, on the matter, but Council does not have the authority to close the road. That is a decision for the city administration, he said. Argenti said he agreed with Koziura’s point. “It is something that’s needed, and needed quickly,” Argenti said. “We have a disaster waiting to happen right now on Cooper Foster. “We need to have another outlet of traffic onto Leavitt Road, and we need to have it done soon. “And even after the construction is done, with the growth on Leavitt, we’re going to be having three or four more commercial businesses on Leavitt Road and we need to divert that traffic and give another outlet on to Leavitt. It just makes

sense.” If the road opening or closing is an administrative decision, Ward 6 Councilman Angel Arroyo Jr. asked if Council action was necessary. The administration and city Law Department wanted a Council ruling due to the earlier Council decision to close it in the 1990s, said Safety-Service Director Dan Given. Ward 7 Councilman Joe Faga said the opening was recommended by the Lorain police and fire departments. Faga agreed it would help relieve traffic backups during the Cooper Foster Park Road construction. He proposed amending the legislation to make it an emergency so the change would become effective immediately. Ward 8 Councilman Joshua Thornsberry dissented.