Road rehab plan nears completion

Project being done with outside funding, under original estimate

A strategic plan to pour millions i nto Mentor Headlands roads is nearing completion.

All but one of the multiple major rehabilitation projects proposed for the neighborhood in 2018 are done or under contract, with City Council’s recent award of the Lake Overlook overhaul.

At $1.5 million, it is the least expensive of the most extensive jobs.

“I am really happy to move this forward and let Council know that we’re getting very, very close to coming to the end of our Headlands road rehabilitation project,” City Manager Ken Filipiak said at the Nov. 4 meeting. “We have Brooksdale and a couple of other minor streets (left). Brooksdale is the only remaining full reconstruction out there.

“We did apply for (Ohip Public Works Commission) grant funding for that, as we have for each of the full reconstructions, and have been successful with that, including Lake Overlook, where we received a half a million dollars in OPWC funds.”

With that project, the city has spent or committed about $9.8 million so far for reconstruction and/or re

surfacing of Marigold, Orchard, Belle Meadow, Wake Robin and Glen Lodge.

“About $4.4 million of that is either grant or outside agency funding (from Lake County),” said Ward 4 Councilman John Krueger, whose ward includes the Headlands.

Brooksdale reconstruction is planned next year at a cost of $2.3 million. In addition, Maiden, Garden, Forrest and Woodridge are targeted for resurfacing within the next two years, bringing the total investment in the neighborhood to nearly $14 million.

“From my perspective, we have moved this along much faster than expected at a l ower overall cost than originally estimated,” Krueger said. “We were thinking more in terms of about $20 million originally. I also think the residents have been pleased, and property values will likely be elevated as a re

sult.”

Lloyd Hatton of Orchard Road is one of them.

“The Mentor Headlands residents are very grateful to the city of Mentor for investing in our infrastructure,” he said. “All the roads they have redone out here are top quality. The overall feedback from the community has been very positive. I hear alot about how respectful and helpful the construction crews are. Also how nice the roads are when they are finished.”

JTO Inc. of Mentor performed the work.

Many of the streets existed prior to the 1950s, mostly as stone-surface roads. Some were improved in the 1970s with asphalt pavements, concrete curbs and gutters. The streets had only been resurfaced and patched since then.

The Lake Overlook completion date is scheduled for Sept. 17. The start date is yet to be announced.

BETSY SCOTT - THE NEWS-HERALD Mentor Ward 4 Councilman John Krueger shows improvements to Marigold Road resulting from a major rehabilitation project in the Headlands.