Township agrees to maintain sidewalk

Replacement walkway on Route 20 to be installed by ODOT as part of road reconstruction project

Madison Township will take charge of maintaining a new sidewalk which is being installed on a section of Route 20 in conjunction with a major road reconstruction project.

Township trustees, at their most recent meeting, unanimously approved a sidewalk maintenance pact with the Ohio Department of Transportation.

By entering into that agreement, the township accepted responsibility for the upkeep of a replacement sidewalk that will be constructed on North Ridge Road, from just east of Hubbard Road to Townline Road.

ODOT will install the new sidewalk as part of its upcoming endeavor to reconstruct Route 20, also known as North Ridge Road in Madison Township, from Hubbard to Townline.

The $16 million project to resurface and widen that stretch of Route 20 is slated to begin in the spring 2023 and conclude by the fall 2025.

Trustee Kenneth Gauntner Jr., before voting on the resolution at the board’s Aug. 10 meeting, didn’t hide his true feelings about the agreement.

“We have never maintained the sidewalks on Route 20,” he said. “I will tell you that I’m not overjoyed about this resolution at all. But I understand the importance of it.”

The sidewalk in Madison Township on North Ridge Road, or Route 20, dates back to 1940, Gauntner said.

Over the past eight decades, ODOT “has never really maintained” the sidewalk on Route 20 that stretches from slightly east of Hubbard to Townline Road, Gauntner added.

“But now ODOT has told us basically that when we start widening the road (in 2023), we’re going to tear that sidewalk out, and unless (Madison Township trustees) agree to maintain it, there will be no sidewalk,” he said.

“I don’t like having a gun put to my head that way, but I also understand the importance (of having a sidewalk along North Ridge Road).”

ODOT spokesman Brent Kovacs responded on Aug. 17 to Gauntner’s criticism of the agreement.

“We are partners to install the sidewalk with the township and the maintenance agreement will help to ensure the serviceability and longevity of the sidewalk,” he wrote in an email exchange with The News-Herald.

During the Aug. 10 trustees meeting, Gauntner also noted that ODOT’s agreement didn’t provide the township with much direction about taking care of the new sidewalk.

“Even though the agreement says we must set aside money out of our annual budget to maintain that sidewalk, it doesn’t say how much money we have to set aside, and it does not say how we have to maintain it,” Gauntner said. “I think it’s very vague.”

But Kovacs said on Aug. 17 that ODOT’s agreement provides the township with flexibility to make its own decisions regarding sidewalk maintenance.

“We have left the agreement vague enough so the township can match the serviceability need to their level of expectation,” Kovacs wrote.

Although Gauntner had expressed concerns at a previous meeting about the township assuming additional liabilities by agreeing to maintain the sidewalk, he reminded trustees that township Solicitor Gary Pasqualone helped put the situation in proper perspective.

“As Gary said, he’s more concerned about the liability if the sidewalk is not there and somebody’s going down the road and gets hit by a car,” Gauntner said.

Pasqualone was absent from the Aug. 10 trustees meeting.

Trustee Max Anderson Jr. said he also believes it’s essential to have sidewalks along the township’s portion of North Ridge Road.

“I’ve seen entire families walking up and down the road there,” Anderson said. “My concern is safety for the community.”

Route 20 in eastern Lake County is expected to be a busy area for construction from 2023 to 2025. During that time frame, ODOT will reconstruct two contiguous sections of Route 20: between Hubbard and Townline roads in Madison Township; and spanning from Townline Road in Perry Township and North Perry Village to Route 2 in Painesville Township.