The state has awarded Marysville a grant to help pay for improvements to Elwood Avenue. The project will include new pavement, new curbs, new storm sewers and new sidewalks. (Journal-Tribune photo by Mac Cordell)
The City of Marysville will get about a half million dollars to deal with one of its streets.
At Monday night’s city council meeting, City Engineer Kyle Hoyng announced he was recently notified that Marysville has been awarded about $500,000 to help pay for the Elwood Avenue reconstruction project.
He said the avenue, which connects North Main Street to North Maple Street, will get new pavement, new curbs, new storm sewers and new sidewalks.
The money comes from an Ohio Public Works Commission grant. The grant is part of a scored application. Additionally, the grant requires at least a 50% match from the community.
Hoyng said the project will cost about $200,000 to design and $1.35 million to construct.
City Public Service Director Jeremy Hoyt said the project is “much needed from a strategic standpoint.”
“Drivability on Elwood is not always the greatest,” he said.
In the city’s 2021 Pavement Condition Ratings report, Elwood Avenue scored a 40 out of 100, one of the lowest scores in the city.
Hoyt said sidewalks on Elwood are also “very poor” and curbs along the street are failing. The public service director said improved sidewalks will make it better for residents from the north end of the city who want to walk or bike to and from the Uptown area. He added that storm sewer installation is “much needed.”
Council member Henk Berbee called the project “long overdue.”
“I am glad you were able to allocate resources to that part of town,” Berbee said.
Hoyt said the project will be designed in 2022 and will likely be completed in 2023.
Officials said Elwood Avenue reconstruction could have impacts on other street improvement projects.
Hoyng said city has “planned ahead and mapped it accordingly.”
Hoyt said the Elwood Avenue reconstruction ties into the three-phase Route 31 project. He said the city is trying to plan the timing of the projects. Hoyt explained that grant funding for the third phase of the Route 31 project was approved last year, but the project will not actually be completed until 2024.
The state scores the applications based on things like usefulness of the project, the number of travelers impacted, the need and the amount of money the city will contribute to the project.
“We were confident we would get the grant,” Hoyt said. “We knew it would score well.”
The Route 31 project’s first phase primarily included the construction of an additional northbound and southbound lane on Route 31 from Mill Road to Millwood Boulevard.
A second phase, which included a mini roundabout at the intersection of Mill Road and Northwoods Drive, realignment of the westbound U.S. 33 ramp, extension of both Northwoods Drive and Cobblestone Way, the addition of mast arm traffic signals as well as concrete curbs and sidewalk on one side of the street and an asphalt shared use path on the other opened in December.
The third phase, which will likely not begin until 2024, will include the reconfiguration of the Elwood Avenue/Maple Street intersection as well as construction of an additional southbound lane on Route 31 from the U.S. 33 bridge to Amrine-Mill Road. The city will continue the addition of mast arm traffic signals, concrete curbs, sidewalks and the asphalt shared use path.
Hoyt said the state had offered to repave Elwood Avenue several years ago, “but we didn’t want to pave it knowing this project was on the horizon.”
Between the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Small City Program and the Ohio Public Works Commission, the state has contributed nearly $7 million to make the improvements in the area.