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County engineer wins state funds for bridge load ratings, CMAQ signal study; commissioners discuss buying ODOT salt-dome property
Summary
Trumbull County's engineer reported state-funded contracts to complete federally required bridge load ratings and a CMAQ-funded signal warrant study; commissioners also discussed a reduced ODOT offer of a former salt-dome property and possible funding approaches.
Gary Schafer, Trumbull County engineer, briefed commissioners on multiple transportation items that require board approval or direction.
Schafer said the county is moving forward on federally driven load-rating analyses for dozens of bridges and has negotiated multiple consultant contracts to spread the work across firms so no single consultant is overloaded. He listed awards to several consultants to complete load-rating work; he said the state funding arrangement is typically 80% state / 20% local for that program and the contracts named amounts in the roughly $40,000–$49,000 range for several consultant packages.
Schafer also described an intersection/signal study funded entirely through CMAQ (congestion mitigation and air quality) money that will analyze warranting and potential signal upgrades on the North River Road corridor and other high-traffic intersections. He said the CMAQ grant will cover the study at 100% and that staff will return with recommended next steps after the warrant analyses.
Commissioners and Schafer discussed a citizen complaint about stored dirt and truck parking at a former ODOT staging area near West Market Street; Schafer said state contractors historically used the site as a temporary staging area and that he would follow up.
Separately, Schafer said ODOT has lowered an asking price on a salt-dome property to $150,000 and that the county could consider acquiring the land because it includes buildings, salt domes and scales that might benefit county operations. Commissioners noted the county's tight budget this year but raised the possibility of splitting acquisition costs with the sanitary engineer (who said some projects could justify property acquisition under project funding) or using grants for sewer work tied to development.
No final purchase decision was made; commissioners asked staff to get a named ODOT contact and to return with financing options and a clearer accounting of how acquisition would be funded and used.
On the bridge and signal work, Schafer indicated agreements were ready for the board to approve and commissioners sign; the agenda included multiple professional-service agreements for load ratings and the CMAQ signal-warrant analysis.
