YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has more than a dozen projects in Mahoning and Trumbull counties slated to begin during the upcoming 2023 construction season.

ODOT plans to spend about $54 million on those 18 projects. Two of those projects are aimed at resurfacing busy roads in Mahoning County, including resurfacing Interstate 680 from Gibson Street to just South of US-224.

Work there includes nine bridge repairs and begins in September with a total cost of around $13.5 million

“Basically, we’ll mill a couple inches of pavement off. We’ll replace it with pavement to give it a smooth ride. That’s part of preserving our system and maintaining our roadways and helping with that easy access and easy movement of people and goods,” said ODOT District 4 spokesman Justin Chesnic.

The Midlothian Boulevard resurfacing project would start at Glenwood and extend all the way down to I-680. The total cost of this particular project is expected to be about $1.2 million.

Safety improvements are the focus of Trumbull County’s big projects, which includes the construction of the diverging diamond at the intersection of state Routes 46 and 82 in Howland. The $19 million project is slated to begin in July.

“We have a lot of crashes there at those ramps at 46 and 82. This will make it a little easier for folks to get around, a little bit easier to access those ramps, and basically reduce those conflict points from 32 down to eight,” Chesnic said.

A restricted crossing U-turn, or RCUT, will be installed on U.S. 62 at Bedford Road in Brookfield.
It’s another intersection design new to the area and will eliminate left turns.

“If they wanted to go left, they’ll have to come out and make a right, get in the left lane, and then they can kind of turn around in the median area there and then head back in the opposite direction which they were going,” said Chesnic.

That project is expected to begin next month.

ODOT released this information on its planned project in Mahoning and Trumbull counties here. Information on Columbiana County’s plan can be found here.