Amherst and Lorain searching for ways to handle Route 58 traffic as business booms

AMHERST — Gridlock has become an issue on Route 58, with some 32,000 vehicles traveling between Route 2 and Cooper Foster Park Road every day. Now officials from Amherst and Lorain are teaming up, approving a $142,000 traffic study and crash analysis for the busy commercial area. "That's our busiest traffic corridor," Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow said. "Most of it was designed quite a while ago. We need to find what modernizing it might need." More traffic is coming, he predicts. To the south, the Sandstone development near the Ohio Turnpike is expected to add 660 homes and a large shopping area over the next several years. To the north, the opening of Meijer on the Lorain border in 2020 has been a magnet for other businesses. "We are working diligently to get this done as quick as possible," said Lorain Councilman Josh Thornsberry, D-8th Ward. A lot of new retail, especially restaurants, have been attracted to the Route 58 area, and he said a tax increment finance district is being formed to divert tax dollars to pay for traffic improvements. That TIF must be approved by both cities but also the Amherst and Lorain boards of education. Thornsberry said the faster it's in place, the better: "Hopefully by the end of the year, or we risk possibly losing a year of revenue for places that have already come online, like Chik-fil-a and those kind of places," he said. Lorain Safety/Service Director Sanford Washington said congestion during rush hour is his biggest concern. He expects to see a lot more commercial development in the target area over the next few years, but said steady growth has to go hand-in-hand with the alleviation of traffic issues. Amherst is unlikely to add significantly to the growth. On its side of the border, there are only two undeveloped lots — otherwise, the city's commercial zone is fairly built-out. However, plans by Ray Fogg Building Methods for 500,000 square feet of new industrial warehouses and offices just off Cooper Foster Park Road show hundreds of parking spaces, and Tyson Foods has been growing by leaps and bounds. "A lot of people think it's unbearably busy right now," Costilow said. "It's going to get busier." Fifty years ago, no one imagined Amherst would have such a busy stretch of roadway, he said. Now safety is the big concern. The busier Route 58 becomes, the more impatient and distracted drivers get, Costilow said. That means more crashes are inevitable. Amherst and Lorain Councils voted unanimously Tuesday to split the cost of a study by Bramhall Engineering, each paying $71,000. It will focus on Route 58 between Cleveland Avenue in Amherst and Tower Boulevard in Lorain, a distance of about 1.7 miles, according to documents from Bramhall. Engineers will document existing road conditions, count cars during weekday peak periods and try to predict traffic levels for the next 20 years. They will also review crash data for the last three years. More than 450 have been reported during that window. Bramhall intends to provide four different plans for improving traffic and identify potential funding sources. Costilow said all options are on the table — road widening, a roundabout, more traffic lights. It's too early to speculate about what solutions engineers may put forward, he said. But it's clear in his mind that something must be done. "We're at that breaking point where soon we won't be able to just make minor adjustments to lights or add another sign. We're out of ideas like that," Costilow said. Reporter Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.