This section of Calcutta-Smith Ferry Road is where Phase 6 of the multi-year, multi-phase rehabilitation of County Road 430, known as Calcutta-Smith Ferry Road, will take place, beginning at Vernon Dell Tractor and stretching 0.5 miles to Bell School Road. The project is in the engineering stage and will include installation of curbs and gutters, widening and an attempt to straighten some curves. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier) 

LISBON — For several years now, the Columbiana County Engineer’s Office set its sights on making Calcutta-Smith Ferry Road a little safer by installing curbs, cutting down steep hills and widening the well-traveled path.

Now the rehabilitation of County Road 430, known as Calcutta-Smith Ferry Road, is moving toward the final stage, with the county commissioners accepting the engineer’s recommendation of ms consultants, inc. of Youngstown to design Phase 6.

Phase 6 will stretch 0.5 miles from Vernon Dell Tractor to Bell School Road.

County Engineer Bert Dawson said this will be the last section of road to be done for the rehabilitation project.

“It’s something I wanted to do for a long time,” he said.

Calcutta-Smith Ferry Road begins in Columbiana County at East Liverpool Road and continues nearly to the Pennsylvania border. Dawson said there’s a lot of traffic on there, a lot of school buses.

The most recent phases started with Phase 4,  a 1-mile section from 0.3 miles east of East Liverpool Road to Vernon Dell Tractor at a cost of $5,796,497 with Rudzik Excavating of Struthers doing the work in 2022. During a ride of the route, Chief Engineer Troy Graft said the project included curbs, gutters and catch basins, took out some steep hills and straightened curves and changed the road alignment. Phase 6 will begin where Phase 4 stopped.

Last year, Phase 5 was completed by Rudzik Excavating for $1,723,035 beginning at East Liverpool Road and traveling 0.35 miles to just east of East Liverpool Road about 0.3 miles, again with curbs.

All the phases have been done over many years.

“We tried to improve the alignment, the grade and the slope,” Dawson said.

He explained that road saves people time instead of having to go to state Route 11. It’s sort of a back door to Calcutta. Dawson explained that parts of the road were widened out and the driveway entrances were improved so people can see when they’re leaving their driveway.

The engineer’s office received four letters of interest from consultants interested in designing the Phase 6 project, including ADR & Associates, Ltd. of Newark, Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc. (JMT) with locations in Cleveland and Columbus, ms consultants, inc. of Youngstown and Thrasher Group, Inc., of Bridgeport, W.Va., with ms consultants, inc. selected, with negotiations for the fee and a contract expected next.

Graft said the challenge for Phase 6 will be the section where houses are close to the road on both sides. Some state transportation improvement funding, $2.5 million, has been lined up for the project.

In other matters related to projects for the engineer’s office, the commissioners awarded the contract for the Elkton Wastewater Treatment Plant RAW/influent pumps replacement project to Border Patrol LLC of Hopedale for $388,616.

Graft, who also serves as the Chief Deputy Sanitary Engineer, said the project will replace all three influent pumps that handle wastewater as it comes into the plant. The current pumps are original to the plant when it was built 30 years ago. Also to be replaced will be six 12-inch valves.

Other action taken in recent commissioner meetings related to engineer projects included: advertising for bids for the Hunston Road bridge replacement in Unity Township, with bids to be opened March 4; awarding the contract for the Leetonia Road, Center Township two-lane resurfacing project to Shelly and Sands, Inc. for $507,549 (other bids included Shelly Company-Northeast Division, $569,365; Lindy Paving, $545,387; Barbicas Construction Co. Inc., $662,663; Karvo Companies Inc., $638,649; and R.T. Vernal Paving & Excavating Inc., $534,772); opening bids for the Madison Township bridge deck milling and waterproofing project on old state Route 45, with Shook Company, LLC submitting the lone bid for $111,111; and accepting the county highway mileage certification as 166.818 miles.

In other business, commissioners recently held a public hearing regarding a request to vacate Sherwood Road, Liverpool Township, Lacroft Addition. The petitioner, Ryan R. Reed, said he wanted the road vacated so he could combine the properties he owns. No one attended in opposition. The adjacent property won’t be landlocked and can be accessed from Irish Ridge Road. The commissioners took the information under advisement, with no decision made.

The next meeting of county commissioners will be 9 a.m. Feb. 18 at the downtown courthouse in Lisbon.