The Cromwell Building is right on top of the intersection. There's no wriggle room (for trucks). Brian Blayney
One of the worst corners to navigate in Geauga County’s highway system is set for improvement in 2018.
The north corners of state Route 528 and U.S. Route 422 in Parkman Township — where long semi truck-trailer rigs occasionally hit the corner of a brick building — are being redesigned by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Brian Blayney, traffic planning engineer for ODOT’s District 12, said last week the corners will be rebuilt to “flatten the radiuses” on the northeast and northwest corners of the intersection.
Blayney said no widening of the intersection has been recommended, just a change in the corners so trucks can navigate the turn without south-bound traffic having to back up to make space for them.
The project is made up of at least three phases and has been in the top 100 things to be done for quite a while, he said
ODOT, using state and federal funds, will have to acquire property on the northwest corner, now occupied by the Cromwell Building, that will be demolished.
“That building has been brushed by trucks,” Blayney said, adding a wall of the building has been replaced at least once in the last 10 years.
Township Trustee Jonathan Ferguson said Blayney has been working with the township on the project for some time .
Trucks pulling long trailers coming south on Route 528 trying to turn right and those westbound on Route 422 turning north have been struggling for years with traffic and space, said Ferguson, who complimented Blayney and ODOT for working with the township to solve the problem.
Originally, ODOT proposed adding a turning lane on Route 422, but trustees countered the idea, Ferguson said.
The ODOT plan would have taken 10 feet off the township park, made the entry to the BP station impossible and created an alignment problem with oncoming traffic, he said. The park is safe from that sort of incursion, according to an ODOT news release.
“The Parkman park is considered a recreational resource under Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 (23 CFR 774) and is provided protection from adverse impacts due to federal-aid transportation projects,” a recent release explained.
After that discussion, which was held during a regular trustees meeting, Blayney had the plans reworked to rebuild the north corners enough to allow truck traffic to make the turns more easily without major roadwork, Ferguson said.
The new plans will be less expensive, require less pavement and eliminate the need for moving utility poles and changing the traffic light, he said.
Also, the BP station will only lose a bit of parking lot on the northeast corner, Ferguson said.
ODOT plans to acquire the abandoned brick structure on the northwest corner in order to complete the project.
“The Cromwell Building is right on top of the intersection. There’s no wriggle room (for trucks),” Blayney said.
Although Ferguson said there have been a significant number of crashes due to the sharp corners, Blayney said the location is only 85th on the state’s rural intersection improvement list.
However, it has become a priority due to the length of time it has been a recognized bottleneck.
“The project has been in development so long, it has a history,” he said.
Estimates for the project are in the range of $462,000, which doesn’t include up to $173,000 for right-of-way acquisition on both corners, and will be covered with a combination of state and federal funds, Ferguson said.
More planning will take place this summer and right-of-way acquisition could take most of next year, putting the start of the project into 2018, but the changes will be made in fairly short order and without inconvenient detours, Blayney said.
Parkman residents and those driving through will be relieved when it is done.
“If you get behind three or four trucks, you know you’ll be there a while,” Ferguson said, adding local drivers seeing a traffic jam in the rural community know to take their own detour to avoid delays.
A presentation on the most recent proposal will be made from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 12 at the township community house.ODOT personnel and a consultant will take questions before and after the presentation.
Written comments should be sent by April 26 to: Mark Alan Carpenter, District Environmental Coordinator, 5500 Transportation Blvd., Garfield Heights, OH 44125. Questions should be directed to Carpenter at 216-584-2089 or by email at Mark.Carpenter@dot.state.oh.us.
