'Western Gateway' roundabouts, sewer replacement to get emergency votes

AMHERST — Bramhall Engineering is ready to start planning three roundabouts to manage growing traffic on Oak Point Road near state Route 2. Amherst City Council's Finance Committee gave its approval Monday to $314,250 to begin early engineering for the "Western Gateway" project. To move forward, the city of Lorain must chip in the same amount. Together, they aim to overhaul the busy stretch of road on the neighboring cities' border, which in the past 20 years has boomed with big-box retailers, restaurants and hospitals. Engineering will provide "a top view of what this project is going to look like," Mayor Mark Costilow said. Aaron Appell, project manager for Bramhall, already has a good idea. A rough map of his plans call for roundabouts to be built to handle Route 2's on- and off-ramps, and another for vehicles coming from Cooper Foster Park Road. "Now it's time to fine-tune those designs and make sure they're going to work," he said. A key part of the process will be determining whether the bridge over Route 2 should be widened, Appell said. The other big question is whether two of the roundabouts should be linked in a peanut shape. Bramhall has a roundabout expert on the team to help guide those decisions, Appell said. Preliminary engineering will take about a year to develop, he said. Councilman David Janik said he's already been approached with concerns about construction. He asked Costilow to require work to be done during off-peak hours to avoid hurting nearby businesses. In other business The Finance Committee also gave its go-ahead for $393,000 in emergency sewer repairs along Cleveland Avenue, where a $1 million paving project is set to begin this spring. Workers have discovered a section of pipes near the Cleveland Avenue Cemetery that desperately need replaced, Costilow said. But after advertising for bids for three weeks, no firms stepped up to take the job, he said — they are either booked deep into the summer or are gunning for bigger-dollar jobs. Without fixing the pavement now, "You could wind up with the road actually collapsing," leaving behind a crater and a hefty repair bill, said Council President Jennifer Wasilk. Costilow said he's far more worried about the possibility of a break that would flood nearby basements with storm water. He asked for approval to award a no-bid contract to Underground Utilities Inc. of Monroeville. Appell said normally the firm wouldn't take a job so small. But at the request of the city, it agreed to take on the job at a price within 10 percent of the estimate. Both the Oak Point and Cleveland Avenue projects will need to weather at least one more vote on the floor of Council. They will appear on next week's agenda with emergency status. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.