The section of Hubbard Masury Road – formerly Standard Avenue – that runs from Route 62 by the old Southside Market to the Brookfield Water Pollution Control Plant is “pretty tore up,” as Trustee Ron Haun called it.
The Trumbull County Engineer’s Office hopes to take care of that problem as part of its chip and seal program for 2018 in the township.
County Highway Superintendent Tom Klejka told the trustees at a March 20 meeting that the county might have to mill part of the road and pave it before laying the small stones and oil on top of it.
The county also will chip seal Warner Road; Stewart Sharon Road from Warner Road to Route 7; Everett East Road; and Broadway Avenue, which Klejka said might also need restoration work before sealing.
The county inspects township bridges that are longer than 10 feet, giving a rating of 1 to 10 for those that remain open with 1 being deemed in danger of imminent failure.
Of the 20 Brookfield bridges inspected, the worst-rated one is on Mulberry Street, which gets a 3 for serious condition.
“It’s considered a bridge because of its width, but it’s actually two galvanized pipes under the road,” said Brookfield Road Superintendent Jaime Fredenburg at an April 2 trustees’ meeting.
“We’re watching it,” said county Deputy Engineer Gary Shaffer. “We’ll probably design it (replacement) this year.”
Two bridges were rated 4 for poor condition. They are on Albright McKay and Bedford roads.
Another paving project is being handled by the county but in a different way, because it is federally funded. The county will use a Community Development Block Grant to widen and pave one of Owsley Street’s three un-connected sections – the dirt-road middle piece between Wheeler and Meek streets.
The project is estimated at $74,000 and will add about 4.5 feet to each side, said Dave Bakalar of Thomas Fok and Associates, the Austintown firm hired to design the project.
“We’re getting it up to right around 20 feet wide,” Bakalar said. “There are some big trees that are going to be removed that are within the right-of-way.”
The plan is to survey and design the project in the next month and then advertise for bids.
The project has to be completed this year, Shaffer said.
Brookfield trustees used the meeting with the county engineering staff to bring up some issues, including drainage around the routes 62 and 82 cloverleaf; the intersection of 62 and Bedford Road; and the intersection of Warren Sharon Road and Route 7, where trucks heading north have degraded the storm sewer and curb. All three issues are controlled by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Trustee Ron Haun said he would like to see the speed limit reduced on Route 62, but Shaffer said the accident history probably would not support a speed limit dip.
ODOT Spokesman Brent Kovacs said the Warren Sharon Road-Route 7 intersection will be reviewed this year.
The state has no projects scheduled for Brookfield this year other than installing rumble strips on each side of Route 7 from Route 82 south to Chestnut Ridge Road in Hubbard Township, Kovacs said. Initially, ODOT agreed to add rumble strips from Route 7 to Stewart Sharon Road in response to a series of big rigs going off the road onto their sides while southbound in the 900 block of Route 7.
Photo: Hubbard Masury Road at Route 62.
