Workers for Foust Construction Inc., Girard, install new handicapped-accessible ramps along Route 7 in Brookfield Center in advance of a road paving project later this year.
Last year was unusual in that Brookfield Township and Trumbull County paved nearly 30 roads in the township. This year will not be as busy, but a state paving project will tie up the center of town for a while.
Ohio Department of Transportation has hired Shelly and Sands of Zanesville to pave Route 7 from just north of Route 82 in Brookfield, through Yankee Lake and into Hartford, stopping at about Drake Stateline Road, said ODOT spokesman Justin Chesnic. North of Drake Stateline was paved last year.
“As of now it looks like work will begin in early June and be concluded by late August 2025,” Chesnic said. “Project will consist of milling SR 7, then placing a chip seal intermediate course and then topping it off with asphalt.”
The county has not settled on any road paving projects in Brookfield for this summer, said Highway Supt. Ken Stassinis, but county workers will be seen from time to time cleaning ditches, trimming trees and patching potholes.
Brookfield Township has a number of paving projects on the books. The township has partnered with Hartford trustees to obtain an Ohio Public Works Commission grant to mill and pave half of King Graves Road, from Warner Road to North Albright McKay Road. OPWC will not release its grant funding until July 1, so the project will begin sometime after that. Trumbull County is handling the bidding process and bids are to opened May 9. Brookfield and Hartford also are pitching in funds for the work.
Brookfield and Hartford intend to apply for OPWC funds to pave King Graves between Albright McKay and Route 7 next year.
The township also has obtained an OPWC grant to go with road-levy funds to mill and pave Beaumont Avenue; Campbell Street; Cleveland Street; Ohio Street between Stateline Road and Brookfield Avenue; Nicholas Street; Nellie Street; and Maryann Street, all on the West Hill of Masury. The county is handling the bidding process for this project, also. The township road crew will widen parts of Nicholas and Beaumont in advance of paving.
In a holdover from last year’s paving program, Martuccio Paving and Asphalt will apply a seal coat – oil and stones – to the section of North Albright McKay Road that was paved last year, between King Graves Road and just south of Amy Boyle Road.
The township also plans to pave Wildwood Drive and part of Crestwood Drive, another holdover from last year’s project, but the timing of the work is unknown. Parts of the roads are expected to be torn up for a storm water drainage improvement project, but the design of the project is still being discussed with the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office and no estimates have been given as to when the work would be done. Township Road Supt. Jaime Fredenburg said the township can extend the contract with Kirila Contractors of Brookfield to pave Wildwood if the storm water project delays paving until after Sept. 30.
Fredenburg had expected to start repaying a $1.6 million OPWC loan from last summer’s paving project this year, but the delays on finishing Wildwood, Crestwood and Albright McKay mean repayments won’t start until 2026, he said. With the money from the road-levy fund that had been expected to go to the loan repayment again available – about $115,000 – Fredenburg wants to invest that money in road maintenance projects such as partial depth repairs, chip sealing and crack sealing. Fredenburg has not settled on specific roads to be addressed, but he said Amy Boyle, Sharon Hogue Road and Superior and Gold streets are candidates.
Fredenburg also said he wants to sit down with trustees and come up with a plan for paving the 20 unaccepted roads in the township. The trustees have talked about paving one a year and bringing these roads, which mostly are dirt and/or slag, up to the level where they will be accepted for perpetual maintenance by the township.
Officials need to come up with criteria – such as condition, traffic counts and number of homes and businesses the unaccepted roads serve – to determine which roads to do and when so Fredenburg can design what needs to be done to each individual road, he said.
