SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) — Starting Monday, residents of Salem won’t be able to use Franklin Avenue for 190 days.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will start resurfacing the road that’s faced wear and tear. But it’s going to affect one of the elementary schools at the beginning and end of the day.
From South Lincoln Avenue to the edge of the Salem City limits, Franklin Avenue will be closed. For the next 6 months, ODOT will be working to fix the road that is one of the main travel routes from Salem to Leetonia.
Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi-Dickey says all the traffic has caused cracking in the concrete.
“We also get a lot of truck traffic going to our older industrial area south of city hall,” Baronzzi-Dickey said.
Right off Franklin Avenue is a side street that leads to Reilly Elementary School. It’s a one-way exit for buses and cars picking up or dropping off children.
“But due to the work that has to be done at the end of Reilly Way, Reilly Way will be shut down,” said Sean Kirkland, Salem Schools superintendent.
Now, vehicles will enter the north end of the parking lot and exit out the south end of the same lot, either going back down Ohio Avenue or turning down Oak Street.
Kirkland says he doesn’t anticipate any delays or traffic build-up.
“There’s always a little bit of traffic there, but our plan, I think we’ve maximized what we can, as far as exiting and entering that place as efficiently as we possibly can,” Kirkland said.
The only change for kids is preschool times will change by 10 minutes.
“You have to train the folks coming in, dropping off their kids and picking up the kids as to what the plan is. But for us, it really doesn’t change a lot,” Kirkland said.
A bulk of this project will be done in the summer. Only the end and start of the school year will be affected.
“It’s going to be good for us,” Kirkland said. “It’s a little inconvenient for a while, but at the end of the day, our roads will be better, our curves will be better and our sidewalks will be better. We’ll be able to make it happen.”
