BUSINESS, INDUSTRY, TRANSPORTATION PROGRESS V— SECTION A TUESDAY, FEB. 28, 2017
Warren Scott
The intersection of University Boulevard and state Route 7 as well as the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Labelle Avenue are the focus of a $10 million project aimed at improving the flow of traffic and safety for the many vehicles that pass through that area each day.
Bridge, boulevard projects are moving forward By WARREN SCOTT Staff writer After being discussed and planned for years, two local transportation projects aimed at improving traffic flow and spurring economic development are moving forward. Crews with Shelly and Sands of Rayland began work several months ago on a $10 million project aimed at improving the flow of traffic at state Route 7, University Boulevard and the Veterans Memorial Bridge. North- and southbound traffic on Route 7 south of the intersection has been reduced to one lane while crews excavate the hillside from
Garfield Elementary School to University Boulevard to create space for a 900-foot lane for traffic bound for the boulevard and bridge. The lane will extend through property once occupied by the Ohio Valley Steelworker statue to the south side of the boulevard, where new traffic signals will regulate the flow of vehicles to the bridge. The statue was moved to an area across from the main branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County on South Fourth Street. The lane will replace a shorter one that often caused vehicles to be
backed into the center lane during peak traffic periods. That lane has been closed during the project, with southbound drivers that would have turned onto the boulevard detoured to the John Scott Highway and U.S. Route 22. Mike Paprocki, executive director of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, said the improvements address recurring safety issues in the area. He said during a handful of years, there were five fatal accidents and other collisions involving drivers turning left from Route 7 onto
University Boulevard. It appeared drivers often misjudged the speed of vehicles in the opposite lane as they attempted to turn. “There were some pretty horiffic crashes there,” Paprocki said. He noted some modifications, albeit awkward ones, were made that helped to reduce collisions before the current project. Crews also have widened and resurfaced on-ramps from the boulevard to the bridge to ease the flow of traffic and to better align the Route 7 off-ramp at the boulevard’s intersection with Seventh Street.
They also are building a concrete and steel retaining wall beneath the railroad bridge over Route 7 to address concerns from the Norfolk-Southern Railroad, which owns property through which the new turn lane will pass. Slated for completion in March 2018, the project also involves extending LaBelle Avenue, the access road to the Steubenville Marina, to the same area near Garfield Elementary School. Vehicles entering the access road from Route 7 now must cross a railroad track, forcing them to be backed into the highway See PROJECTS Page 2A Á