“It is not all, but it’s mostly residential streets because of that,” said Fairfield City Engineer Ben Mann.
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About $200,000 of that money, however, will come from the Public Utilities Department as Seward Road from Symmes to Port Union roads will be repaved following the 2019 water main replacement project.
The city refocused its repaving projects last year on mostly residential streets as the city spent nearly all of its paving program budget in 2018 on a 4.5-mile stretch of Ohio 4 in 2018.
Public Works Director Dave Butsch said officials will work to get as many residential streets repaved as needed before 2023, when the city will repave the southern portion of Ohio 4.
In all, just less than $4 million will be spent on infrastructure projects in 2020, and while most will be invested in repaving local roads, the most visible project for 2020 will involve Boymel Drive.
The city will repave the entire half-mile stretch from Mack Road to Sosna Drive. The project also includes a realignment of the Boymel Drive and Ohio 4 intersection and a new left-turn lane on Boymel Drive next to Diplomat Village.
“We’re going to improve the entirety of Boymel, but the major change with that project is to add a left-turn lane,” Mann said. “It’s just so that the left turns (onto Ohio 4 from Boymel Drive) line up to allow for safer turning movements.”
The city will bid the $375,000 project later this summer, and the Ohio Public Works Commission will pay for $200,000 of the project.
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The city will also push to widen Pleasant Avenue between Calumet Way and Happy Valley/Gelhot drives. The widening will allow for safer left-turning movements for traffic heading south on Pleasant.
Fairfield Public Works Director Dave Butsch said southbound traffic now runs onto the shoulder to get around left-turning traffic.
“The idea is to widen that out just a little bit to allow for the turn movement,” Butsch said, adding they’ve received a few complaints about the issue over the years.
Mann said there’s not much traffic turning left off Pleasant Avenue along that stretch, but added, “If you do want to turn left, there’s so much opposing traffic northbound you just don’t have anywhere to wait.”
The city estimates the project’s cost to be $540,000.
The Public Works Department will tackle replacing 350 of the thousands of cobra head lights around the city. These lights are primarily on the main roads, said Butsch.
About $150,000 has been budgeted for this project, which will happen early this year. Mann and Butsch said it’s possible another $150,000 could be allocated from the 2020 budget to replace another 350 cobra head lights either at the end of this year or in early 2021.
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