Infrastructure projects abound this spring in Mahoning County

Aug 10, 2023

Apr 17, 2023

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple....ABOVE: Kedar Bhide, project manager with the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, stands near a new diesel fuel-powered generator the district installed in 2022 in case of a power outage.

Entities are gearing up for capital improvement projects to improve roads, infrastructure and utility services throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Some of the projects slated for this year are multiyear efforts that began several years ago, including Dominion Energy's pipeline infrastructure replacement project. This is year 16 of the project, which was estimated to take 25 years when it began in 2008.

GAS COMPANY

Dominion Energy spokeswoman Stephanie Moore said the gas company has replaced 2,400 miles of pipeline, so the time frame might have to be extended to replace all 5,500 miles. The entire pipeline system is 22,000 miles long.

The project involves replacing old bare steel, cast iron, wrought iron and copper pipe to either coated steel or plastic pipe. It mostly affects the main line, which is typically in the street, and various service lines, which run from the main line to the gas meter.

Also throughout Dominion's territory, the company is working on moving meters from inside properties to the outside for customer convenience.

By moving the meters outside, a Dominion employee easily can inspect the meter without having to come into someone's home or business.

Also, Dominion will be completing smaller projects in communities throughout the Mahoning Valley for a total cost of $37.9 million.

Of this, 23 projects will be done in Mahoning County for $25.45 million. Thirteen projects will be completed in Youngstown; two will be completed each in Boardman, Austintown, Struthers and Campbell; and one will be completed in Lowellville and Jackson.

In Trumbull County, 12 projects will be completed for $12.49 million. Seven projects will be completed in Warren, two in Liberty, two in Girard and one in Niles.

MAHONING VALLEY SANITARY DISTRICT

The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District is set to embark on a major project in the fall. The district needs to make repairs to the 3,500-foot earthen dam at Meander Reservoir. Planning for the project began in 2014 and designs were completed in 2020. Tom Holloway, plant operations manager, said $3 million of engineering already has gone into the project.

The total project is estimated to cost $54 million. Chief Engineer Michael McNinch said it must start this year because each year the district waits, the larger the price tag gets due to inflation.

MVSD has applied for a grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the No. 1-ranked project in the state. The district is competing for $1 billion that is available across the country. It is asking for $38 million from FEMA, and MVSD will front the remaining cost. Typically, the awards are announced in August.

The concern is the dam cannot handle a critical rain event, which is 19 inches in 24 hours, said Holloway.

The curb on the dam will be raised. At the height it is at now, the dam, built in 1926, could wash out and fail, sending water overflowing the creeks and land around it, Holloway said.

The project involves constructing a new auxiliary spillway and installing anchors into the dam foundation, flattening downstream embankments, upgrading dam-related instrumentation, electric service and lighting, and replacing east and west access roads to the dam.

Also this year, the district is continuing a valve replacement project that began in 2021. Phase four is about 80 percent complete, McNinch said, and will cost about $6 million.

Once the project is done. all 111 of the large valves in the 220-valve system will have been replaced. Valves that measure more than 12 inches in diameter are considered large. Many of the valves the district is pulling out of the ground are 100-year-old cast-iron valves.

In 2022, MVSD worked on two major projects — installing a generator and improving the chemical head house. The generator project began in 2021.

MVSD gets electric two ways from FirstEnergy so that if one line goes out, the other can be used. The generator runs on diesel fuel and can run for 24 hours without needing to be refilled. It acts as a backup in case both sources of electricity go down.

Improvements to the the chemical head house are wrapping up now. Before the project, MVSD could not store chemicals in bulk and was still relying on technology from the 1920s and 1930s when the plant was first built.

The plant uses chemicals to make particles in the water bigger, so they can be filtered out more easily. Holloway said the improvements have led to better filtering, which customers will notice.

"The biggest thing customers will notice is the lack of lime in the water," Holloway said. "We used to use a lot of lime to treat the water here. Over the years, we’ve reduced that to half or lower. If you looked in your toilet tank behind the toilet, you would see the buildup inside the tank. It would also build up in your faucets."

MAHONING COUNTY

The largest project the Mahoning County Engineer's Office is working on this year is the widening of Western Reserve Road. County Engineer Pat Ginnetti said the entire project will cost about $16 million and take about three years to complete.

The road will be widened from just east of Hitchcock Road to the Interstate 680 southboud ramp. A two-way center left turn lane and several right turn lanes will be added along the stretch.

Ginnetti said this is an important project because it is a major corridor that has only two lanes. Widening the road will help traffic move more safely and efficiently, he said.

Drainage improvements, precast box culverts, intersection widening, curbing, signing and pavement marking also are included in the project.

Ginnetti's office also will begin maintenance on four large steel span beam bridges throughout the county. The rehabilitation work will include painting, replacing the expansion joints, refurbishing the bearings and deck repairs with concrete overlays.

The four bridges are on First Street in Lowellville, Oak Street in Youngstown, Old Furnace Road in Youngstown and Dewey Avenue in Youngstown. The cost of all four refurbishments will be about $3.9 million.

The county also will replace three bridges. They are:

∫ On Middletown Road near Stratton Road in Goshen Township for $180,000;

∫ On Rosemont Road south of Mahoning Avenue in Jackson Township for $187,000; and

∫ At the intersection of Middletown Road and Unity Road in Springfield Township for $358,000.

ABC WATER DISTRICT

The ABC Water District took a big step in one of its major ongoing projects last month when it leveled Market Street Elementary School in Boardman to make way for a 14.6-acre public park.

The park will include a retention stream that will be able to hold enough water to cover a football field 9 feet high.

Jason Loree, Boardman administrator and representative to the district, said the water district met with the school district about a year and a half ago to discuss the water district acquiring the project.

"This is not a typical construction job," Loree said. "It's the reconfiguration of a stream, so we will need some cooperation from the weather."

Construction could begin late this year and will finish in 2024 or 2025.

The project, estimated at $3.5 million, will entail an outdoor open-air pavilion with a laboratory in the front to allow middle school students to conduct a variety of science work. Those efforts include testing water quality samples and planting rain gardens, and the pavilion will be available to future generations, Loree said.

The park also will include natural habitat areas and a 1/3-mile, 10-foot-wide hike and bike trail equipped with lighting and security cameras.

The retention stream will help to alleviate flooding from the Melrose, Erskine and Meadowbrook neighborhoods, Loree said. The goal of the project is to get water to the detention area as quickly as possible so it can then be released slowly into the stormwater system, rather than having all the water overloading the system at once.

Loree said the district also will begin a program in May to assist Boardman households that add backflow preventers, which help prevent sewer water from coming back up through people's floor drains during heavy rains. The stormwater and sanitary systems should be separate, but there are places throughout the system where storm water does enter the sanitary system.

Ginnetti's office will give $3,600 to residents who qualify to install a backflow preventer. Loree said the district will give anyone who qualifies for the sanitary engineer's program an additional $1,500 to help cover the cost. He said residents will just have to show that they got money from the sanitary engineer.

"We’re just trying to help with what the county is doing to bring more awareness to sanitary backflow coming up through the floor drains," Loree said.

The district will reserve $50,000 for this program, which will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

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