A slew of traffic signals are set to be upgraded throughout the city. During Monday’s Delaware City Council meeting, a resolution authorizing City Manager Tom Homan to enter into a Local Public Agency (LPA) agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for phase one of citywide signal improvements was approved.
Under the agreement, 37 signals will be upgraded along Delaware’s busiest corridors. Those corridors include U.S. Route 36, state Route 37, Sandusky Street and London Road.
The city was awarded $2.5 million in federal funding from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) to upgrade the signal systems along primary travel corridors through Delaware in 2017. Existing traffic control systems are heavily outdated, having been constructed in 1999, and do not include the current technology to manage increased vehicle and truck movements along major roadways, a city document states.
As part of the project, $385,000 of funding through the Delaware Fire Department will be committed to installing emergency vehicle preemption at key intersections in order to improve incident response times for emergency crews.
Total improvements for the project will include expanding the fiber network, improved signal timing, replacement of obsolete signal controllers, installation of traffic monitoring cameras, battery backup systems, and improved pedestrian signals.
The project will cost a total of $2,885,000, with the city being reimbursed for $2,500,000 of the costs through ODOT and MORPC. Local contributions will only total the $385,000 from the DFD. Construction is expected to begin next summer.
Also approved during Monday’s meeting were LPA agreements with ODOT for the safety improvement project at U.S. Route 23 and Hull Drive, as well as a bridge repair project for all bridge and drainage infrastructure along U.S. Route 23 from Cheshire Road to Main Road.
The city was awarded $207,000 in funding from the ODOT Safety Program to be spent on modifications to the volatile Hull Drive intersection in order to reduce accidents. Per a document for the resolution, “a suggested preferred alternative is to reconstruct the median along US 23 at the Hull Drive intersection to prohibit movements (east-west) across the highway and to also prohibit left turns from Hull Drive.”
“A public involvement session is planned for this project once the design commences,” the document states.
Construction on the intersection is expected to begin in the summer of 2022.
As for the bridge and drainage repairs, the resolution document states, “This section of US 23 was originally constructed in the 1960s and several bridge structures have deteriorated to the point of needing major rehabilitation.”
ODOT will make repairs to bridges, and the city is responsible for the costs of repairs to culverts and storm sewers located within the city limits. The estimated cost for inspection of all culverts and storm sewers in the project and subsequent engineering design of repairs is $207,000, which is reflected in the city’s 2021 Capital Improvement Plan. Construction is expected to begin in 2022.
