The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Focus stays on infrastructure as city cares for residents
The City of North Olmsted is continuing to invest in road and sewer infrastructure making it easier to get from point A to point B.
Streets
The city currently has several road infrastructure projects in the works for 2020 and 2021 that will serve as connection points for the city’s critical retail and business sector.
“We have a lot of road infrastructure projects in the works. We always put $1 million, $1.5 million into our streets,” Mayor Kevin Kennedy said.
An estimated $1.165 million repaving project for a portion of Country Club East Boulevard between Great Northern Boulevard and Columbia Road will serve an area of the city with hotels and office space.
“We’re going to beautify it with some sort of median in the middle to make it look really nice,” Kennedy said.
The project is expected to go out for bid in February with most of the work being completed in summer or fall of 2020.
In addition to repaving and adding the median, the project will add lighting in the area to make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The city is currently conducting studies for 2021 repaving projects on Clegg Road and Park Road. Brook Park Road is also scheduled to be done.
On Clegg Road, Kennedy said the city is working with the Ohio Department of Transportation and in addition to resurfacing, it will look to address safety in controlling the flow of traffic.
Cleveland Water
North Olmsted is currently in the process of trying to join Cleveland Water.
Sixty communities currently rely on water from the City of Cleveland and a program allows cities to turn over their pipes at which point they will begin the process of replacing them.
The program known as Cleveland Water’s Suburban Water Main Renewal Program allows municipalities to submit projects twice each year to qualify for funding.
It also turns over maintenance of the pipes to Cleveland who will service them when encountering issues such as waterline breaks.
“We need to be a good partner with Cleveland water and making sure that our residents are well taken care of and have the proper customer service,” Kennedy said.
The agreement was first proposed by the administration in 2018 but was turned down by North Olmsted City Council.
The city’s engineering department still conducted their assessments of their infrastructure and identified $1.2 million in waterline improvements that would qualify under the program.
Kennedy said joining the Cleveland Water program is a big deal for the city and residents as they look to upgrade aging waterline infrastructure.