Mount Vernon council backs CARPO planning funds for dangerous Route 13 intersection

Mount Vernon moved forward Wednesday night to apply for planning money to study safety fixes at the Route 13/North Sandusky–Castle Road–Upper Fredericktown Road intersection and prepare several design alternatives for public review. City staff told council they have seen an uptick in injury crashes at the Y‑shaped junction and said one recent crash was fatal. The council resolution authorizing the city to apply for Central Ohio Rural Planning Organization (CARPO) funds will let the city pay consultants to develop about five alternatives, grade them and begin public engagement, city officials said. The planning work is intended to define design, right‑of‑way needs and construction timing before the city seeks construction funding. City Engineer Brian Paul told the council the grant request is purely for planning and design. “We are asking for the first money,” Paul said, adding the project would include sidewalk extensions and an analysis of traffic movements and safety tradeoffs. He said staff has been talking door‑to‑door with property owners near the intersection to gather early feedback and reduce surprises later in the design process. Why it matters: city officials said the intersection carries state traffic, lies in and out of city limits, and has generated increasing crash reports and community requests for pedestrian facilities. The planning step will be required before the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will review or approve detailed construction plans for any safety countermeasure. Supporting details: Paul said the county engineer, Cameron Keaton, will provide a letter of support and act as a project partner; Clinton Township has already passed a resolution of partnership. Staff said alternatives under consideration could include signalization, reconfigured approaches or compact roundabout geometries; truck and farm equipment access is a factor in design evaluations. If the CARPO application is awarded, council was told, design and detailed engineering could take several years and the earliest construction would be around 2029 under a conservative schedule; the CARPO application deadline referenced at the meeting was August 8. Council action and next steps: Council suspended the rules and adopted a resolution authorizing the safety‑service director to apply for CARPO funding and to partner with the county and township on the application. The motion to adopt carried on a roll‑call vote. If the application succeeds, staff said they expect to return to council with alternatives and formal public meetings once preliminary engineering is complete. Ending: Staff urged patience: the grant would fund the early phases — planning, public outreach and preliminary design — rather than immediate construction. Councilmembers and the administration indicated they want to keep residents informed as the technical evaluation proceeds and to return with more detailed cost and schedule estimates when they are available.