Stow City outlines $12.8 million Route 91 reconstruction, signals and bike connector; residents raise traffic and driveway concerns

Stow City and its contractor outlined plans and a tentative schedule for the Crossroads State Route 91 reconstruction during a public briefing where nearby residents raised concerns about traffic diversion, driveway damage and work timing.

The city said the project, bid at about $12,800,000, began April 22 and will replace aging curb, update sidewalks and ADA ramps, reconstruct storm sewers, repave and restripe the roadway and upgrade traffic signals; officials said the work is expected to be complete in the fall of 2026. "This project was bid at, about $12,800,000," said Mike Jones, city engineer. "The completion date is the fall of 2026."

The city and contractor stressed the work is being done in phases to limit disruption and accommodate long supplier lead times. "With the lead times and materials and the submittal process, things just take a long time and we know that this road needs done yesterday," said Yanni Carvanidis, president of the Carville Company, the contractor on the job. "We're gonna try our absolute best to do what we can and be work safe first and foremost, and to minimize, any delays."

Why it matters: State Route 91 is a primary corridor that carries local and through traffic and serves businesses along the route. The work includes replacing curb installed in the 1960s and 1970s with Type 6 curb, installing underdrains and aggregate base, upgrading 8 ADA ramps, rebuilding catch basins and manholes, and installing a bike/hike connector at Fish Creek to improve nonmotorized access.

Project scope and schedule City staff said the project begins at the southern corporate limit (Monroe Falls) and continues through Stow to Norton Road in Hudson. Work is being done in roughly 5,000-foot segments; the contractor is completing the east side of a segment before flipping traffic to do the west side. "The first segment where they are working now is between Stow Road or Brilliance, Uniondale, all the way up to Richey," Mike Jones said.

Jeremy Basil, lead project supervisor for the contractor, said the team expects to complete the current section sooner than the published date and then flip traffic to the other side. "We're looking to be done with phase 1, section 1 by July 24, but it's probably gonna be sooner," Basil said. Work zones currently maintain one lane of traffic in each direction, with turn lanes at intersections.

Signals and long lead items City staff told residents that many traffic-signal components have long lead times. Cornerstone Electric will perform signal work on parts of Route 91; Perham Electric Company was named as the contractor on the State Route 59 signal project, which the city said is running simultaneously. Mike Jones said some signal poles and mast arms will not arrive until months after test holes and foundation work: "the traffic signal equipment on 59 is approximately 35 years old... The actual signal poles and mast arms and cabinets and things like that won't show up until the earliest around, I'm guessing, Thanksgiving," Jones said. For the 59 signal project he added a supplier timeline of roughly 30 to 32 weeks for some poles.

Signal upgrades include GPS-based preemption for emergency vehicles, a Centrac monitoring system to allow remote troubleshooting, and adaptive signal timing to coordinate signals in the commercial district. "The new technology that we're putting in will be... GPS based, preemption so that if the fire department or police department leaves City Hall area, the Safety Building, they can go down 59 and each one of those signals will be cleared," Jones said. "The other thing that it's real important to the new signals is a Centrac system, which allow our traffic signal division to monitor every signal... rather than be manually worked on."

Bike/hike connector and pedestrian accommodations City staff described the Fish Creek connector as a stepped approach with a center trough for bicycles similar to an existing route in Kent; sidewalks and upgraded pedestrian crossings are planned along both sides of Route 91. "That one is going to be... basically a stairway that has a center trough similar to the ones that were used in Kent," Mike Jones said.

Resident concerns and city responses Multiple residents said they fear traffic will divert onto neighborhood streets and asked about driveway damage from construction. Rick Labeaux, a Stow resident of more than 20 years, said: "...where is all the traffic from Roses Run and the Steeplechase area gonna go when you completely close down 59?" He asked for more police presence on Charing Cross and recommended speed tables. In response, the city said it would ask the police department under Chief Film to monitor Charing Cross now rather than wait for the construction next year.

Daniel Strauss, who said he lives on Kent Road, raised past problems after State Route 59 work where driveway aprons were damaged and temporary cold patching was left in place. Jones said the state (ODOT) ran the 59 project and the city later repaired roughly 20 driveway approaches; for the Route 91 project the city noted curb and aprons are being removed to install underdrains and new curb, and the city offered to have residents provide addresses for follow-up. "If you have a specific address you want us to look at, we turn it to the service department," Jones said.

Manholes, utility access and responsibility City staff discussed manhole and utility box adjustments and noted that some utility-owned manholes must be adjusted by the utility owners themselves. "The ones that were not completed that took a while were, AT and T Bell manholes and those are specifically have to be adjusted by AT and T themselves," Jim McCleary, the project's Lehi engineer, said.

Communication and project tracking The city said it will maintain updates on its website (stowhio.org) with a project page and an interactive map showing active zones (maroon for active work, gold for set-up zones). Staff said they plan weekly or biweekly updates depending on activity.

What was not decided No formal votes, ordinance changes or funding approvals took place at the briefing; the meeting served as a public project update and question-and-answer session.

Ending City staff and the contractor reiterated they will continue outreach and invited residents with detailed questions to review plan sheets after the meeting or contact the engineering department. "We're here to answer any questions, any concerns, and, you know, talk about the projects," Yanni Carvanidis said.