Congressman told of interest in U.S. 30 upgrade

LISBON - Local officials met Tuesday with U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson to discuss obtaining federal funding for various projects, chief among them being revival of the improvement to U.S. Route 30.

Meeting with Wilson and two of his aides were Columbiana County Engineer Bert Dawson, county Commissioner Penny Traina, Chief Deputy county Engineer Bob Durbin and local banker Charles Lang, who is heading efforts to revive the Route 30 realignment project.

The last action of any sorts in regard to the project occurred four years ago when the Ohio Department of Transportation's Transportation Review Advisory Committee (TRAC) announced it was leaving Route 30 off the list of future projects through 2012 due to lack of funding. ODOT estimated it would cost $500 million to turn Route 30 into a four-lane highway from Canton to state Route 11 if done in phases over 10 years.

But after the local group made a presentation in October, TRAC added Route 30 to the list as a Tier 2 project, which are projects in advanced stages of development that could be accelerated should the funding come available. Tier 1 projects are those ODOT has scheduled for construction over the next four years.

Dawson said they are taking the same approach as before, which is seeking to have Route 30 done in phases as the money becomes available.

"Obviously it will never be done as one shot," he said.

According to Dawson's office, it would cost an estimated $118 million to make Route 30 a four-lane freeway in Columbiana County. The engineer's office hopes the first section to be done would be from Hanoverton to Lisbon, which is considered the most dangerous because of several bad curves and Canton Hill. The federal funding being sought with Congressman Wilson's help would be awarded to ODOT to cover the costs.

Meanwhile, Dawson said they are supporting Stark County's efforts to get ODOT to fund completion of the Route 30 bypass around Canton, a three-mile stretch from Trump Road to state Route 44 in East Canton.

ODOT has yet to decide on the new alignment for Route 30 through the county. When the project was halted four years ago, ODOT had narrowed the alignment to two options, with the state preferring what was referred to as the north option, which enters the county near Minerva and would run north of Hanoverton and Gavers before connecting with Route 11 just north of West Point.

Dawson said they thanked Wilson for helping secure federal stimulus funding for the county, "but we reminded him we didn't get any money for road projects." The engineer's office sought stimulus funding for 334 road projects.

Wilson also was advised the county could use federal funding for sewer projects and construction of a new county building to house the county Department of Job and Family Services, elections board and Veterans Services.

"With all of the stimulus money around, we just wanted to make him aware of the projects that we're pushing for," Dawson said.

tgiambroni@mojonews.com