Sound barriers to go up in spring
By Jeff Gallatin
North Olmsted
Published July 25, 2007

In addition to seeing flowers growing, city officials now anticipate finally seeing the new sound barrier walls on I-480 going up next spring.

Mayor Thomas O’Grady said the actual construction of the walls should be done in the spring of 2008.

“That’s when we anticipate them going up,” O’Grady said. “Right now, they’re doing the engineering of the walls for the work. After that, the state officials anticipate letting the contract for the work in November. Then they plan to do the foundation work during the winter before actually putting them up in the spring.”

As city officials indicated in October 2006, when they first said the project would be delayed because the state is putting up new walls instead of renovating the old ones, money is at the heart of the issue for the delay.

“When the state officials got the bids back, they were just significantly higher than they had budgeted for the repairs,” O’Grady said. “So instead of just doing a renovation, they decided to put in completely new walls.”

David J. Coyle, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, sent a letter to city officials saying the repair bids were $1.2 million above what his department had estimated. He said since the $2.5 million would in fact cover new walls, the state decided to put in new sound barrier walls.

When state officials found this out last year, they initially said the state would not be able to replace the walls for two to three years. The project had been scheduled to start last year.

Both Nicole Dailey Jones, the chairwoman of city council’s Streets and Transportation committee, and O’Grady fired off letters to state officials saying a two- to three-year delay was an unacceptable time frame.

Coyle, in turn, told city officials that work would begin in July 2007, which is the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, the first time funds for that time period will be available.

“By putting them up in the spring, they’ll still be falling within that fiscal year,” O’Grady said.

O’Grady said the anticipated spring completion of construction is better than some alternatives.

“It’s better off than waiting two or three years as they originally wanted,” he said.

Jones, the council member who represents the area, lobbied earlier for the repairs and has tried to keep the project moving as quickly as possible.

“While I’m glad the project is moving forward and that we now have a definite timeline from the state as to how the project will progress, it goes without saying that it’s still a source of frustration to the residents of that area that the work has been delayed,” she said.

Jones indicated that she and the residents remain concerned about the walls being down.

“We’re glad that new walls will be going up, but the fact remains that the residents have had to deal with the old walls being in poor condition and then the walls being down for some time,” she said. “It’s a safety issue for the residents of that area, and we will be very glad when the walls are back up.”

Jones said she will continue to monitor the situation.

“I’ll be staying in touch with the administration and ODOT about the work,” she said.

City officials have set a public meeting about the walls from 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 15 in the Community Cabin in North Olmsted Park. The meeting will have an open format and people may come and go while checking the information available, Limpert said.