CONNEAUT – The City of Conneaut is one step closer to knowing which roads will be paved in 2026.
With approximately $355,000 available to be used for paving, the list of roads to be considered will include Jackson Street from Mill Street to Broad Street; Wrights Avenue from Detroit Street to Erie Street; Lee Street from Old Mani to Rowe Street; Jackson Street from Mill Street to Broad Street; and Pearl Street from Wrights Avenue to the park entrance. Gateway Avenue from Route 7 to Dorman Road and portions of Old Mill will be considered for a partial-depth repair.
The approximate cost of paving those streets is $349,665. South Ridge East will be repaired with funds received from Ohio EMA with a $100,000 match by the city.
Jackson Street was one of the first roads to be mentioned in the discussion.
“I think Jackson has to be done,” At-Large Councilwoman Mariana Branch said. “It’s really bad, and it’s close to the school.”
Ward 2 Councilman Chris Castrilla said he felt Gateway Avenue was in worse shape than Jackson Street.
Sewage Treatment Plant Superintendent Brian Bidwell suggested an alternate plan for Gateway.
“Basically, what I did was I went out and went through and picked what I thought would need partial-depth repair,” Bidwell said. “With Partial-depth repair, you go down, I think it’s four inches, and you try not to get into the base, but you go down, and then you do a patch in there. Instead of mill and filling the whole road where some of the road is still good, you would just go do this partial-depth repair.”
There is significant savings with a partial-depth repair of Gateway versus a mill and fill.
“I did a partial-depth repair versus a mill and fill on Old Mill and Gateway,” Bidwell said. “For Gateway, it’s about $116,000 to do a partial-depth repair, versus $213,000.”
Doing a partial-depth repair would mean, in basic terms, patching the bad spots and leaving the rest of the road alone.
“When you do this partial-depth repair, you’re going to have a road that looks like a quilt,” Bidwell said. “It will hold up, it should hold up.”
The repair is not in any way similar to the patching that has been completed on Lake Road after it was cut to tie properties to the sewer lines.
“Because we’re not getting into the base, it shouldn’t be an issue,” Bidwell said. “Those Lake Road holes are basically into the base of the road, the stone, whatever’s underneath there.”
“As we move forward with Gateway in a partial-depth repair, there’s going to be patches everywhere,” Bidwell continued. “They’ll be sealed, but it will be patches.”
Old Mill, on the other hand, is not a candidate for a partial-depth repair.
“Old Mill is in bad enough shape to where it’s, I think, a $5,000 difference between mill and fill and a partial-depth repair,” Bidwell said. “(A partial-depth repair) doesn’t make sense. Old Mill needs to be just a mill and fill.”
A suggestion was made that some partial-depth repair be done on Old Mill to address the wort areas with a mill and fill done later.
“What I’m suggesting is that we do some very small, not to exceed $10,000, partial-depth repair on Old Mill,” Bidwell said. “That can put us in a position where that bad spot in the middle is taken care of and the rest can wait.”
Harbor Street was suggested as a candidate to be paved, but Bidwell told council there were bigger problems to consider first.
“Harbor Street is one of the streets that we discussed that really doesn’t make sense to pave it, because there are significant problems that need addressed, it’s one of the oldest parts of town,” Bidwell said. “There’s some significant problems there. I don’t suggest Harbor Street, at this time, be on the list.”
Members of council expressed that Center Road is in need of paving, but the price tag is high.
“I think that would be good to look at for maybe next year for a cold mix,” City Manager Nick Sanford said.
There was some discussion as to whether Lake Shore Court should be paved, but it didn’t get far.
“Lake Shore Court has been historically on the list,” Bidwell said. “I think, at some point a couple of years ago, it made the cut, but after the contractor took a look at it and said he didn’t think we should do anything. It’s really not in that bad of shape. Maybe we need to do some crack sealing or fill a couple of potholes.”
Rockwell Street was mentioned, but it also has other problems.
“Rockwell is a different animal,” Bidwell said. “We would like to repair the storm sewer underneath there. Until we resolve that, I would just leave it as it is. We tore the asphalt up because we were concerned. There were these sinkholes underneath there that we couldn’t see. Now we can see if the sinkholes reappear, which, right now, they’re not reappearing.”
