Although President Joe Biden’s $4.5 trillion infrastructure bill has not yet been approved and is still being debated in both houses of Congress, you wouldn’t know it by looking at all the construction in Marysville.
Major projects to improve streets and highways in the city have been underway for several weeks, some for several months. Work on West Fifth Street between Court and Maple streets has been in progress for the past several weeks whereas the improvements on Industrial Parkway between Dunham Avenue and Clymer Road are nearing completion after a few months. Walnut Street near the Walnut Crossing Assisted Living facility has also been under construction for a couple of months. There may be a few other sites, but the most extensive project is the London Avenue work from Greenwood Boulevard to Timberview Drive. It has been ongoing all summer and doesn’t appear to be anywhere near finished.
Anytime major work is done on streets or roads, it causes inconvenience for those living along or near them and those traveling on them. It’s the price that has to be paid for improving the town’s infrastructure and it underscores that Marysville is a growing, thriving community. Thankfully, most of the projects in town are either short-lived, have convenient alternate routes or allow continued two-way traffic so that delays and bother to citizens is minimized. This is the case with all the projects mentioned except one – the work on London Avenue.
For several months, area residents and those who travel that road daily have been severely inconvenienced. Most of the time, travel has been restricted to one lane by using workers to handle the traffic or a traffic light to monitor the flow. This is the situation not only during working hours, but also after work stops each day and on weekends, including long holiday weekends. Unfortunately there are no convenient detours.
And the difficulties are not just traffic-related. The front yards of every house on the east side of the street from Greenwood to Timberview have been ripped up leaving mounds of dirt. For several days homeowners were unable to go in or out of their driveways. In addition, dust has caused an ever-present nuisance.
We realize that the project is important and will benefit not only those who live in the area, but also the whole community. When it is finally completed, the yards will be repaired, the bulldozers and equipment removed and a new road with sidewalk and expanded sewer line will be in place. It’s getting there that causes the headache.
One of the main worries we see is the jeopardy placed on emergency and fire vehicles that traverse the street from time to time. If the congestion causes a delay in their ability to get to their destination, it could hamper the effort to save a life or put out a fire.
Perhaps in future projects of this nature some changes might be implemented. Two-way traffic could be required at least on weekends. It would be nice if that could occur after work is stopped each day, but that may be hard to do. Homeowners’ yards are already torn up, so why not ensure that stone and heavy equipment be stored there and not on the road. This would also help provide room in emergency situations so drivers would have space to move over for fire trucks and squads.
One other suggestion for situations of this length of time and degree of inconvenience is to give the homeowners directly affected a small, one-time credit on their real estate tax bills.