Kennedy Ridge project gets funding
By Jeff Gallatin
North Olmsted
Published April 2, 2008

City officials said the end of the long road to getting needed construction work done on Kennedy Ridge roads east and west is in sight.

City officials were notified last week that Cuyahoga County officials approved giving $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. Those funds, coupled with $24,000 already given by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority for the work, will allow the projects to move forward this year.

City Planning Director Kim Wenger said the funds will be a major help to the city this year.

“It’s a relatively big project which we’ve been looking at for some time,” Wenger said. “It  means this will bring the local contribution down considerably. We always appreciate getting the CD grants because they help out in areas where they are needed.”

She said changes in the CDBG grant allocations also helped get the funds for North Olmsted.

“Some additional areas were added which made it easier for the Kennedy Ridge area to meet the income and related criteria for the grant,” Wenger said. “We’ve been fortunate to get several grants in recent years.”

City Engineer Dan Collins said the timing is good for the city.

“Both parts of  the Kennedy Ridge Road area were high on the list of street rankings as projects which needed to be done soon,” Collins said. “We were planning to do them this year.”

Collins said the work would probably be bid as two separate projects, east and west.

“We’ll probably advertise for bids later this month,” Collins said. “I would anticipate the actual work being done sometime this summer. It should be pretty extensive work which will make the conditions of that road much better for people driving in the area.”

He said preliminary reviews indicate the work would probably take at least a “few weeks,” once the projects actually get underway.

“They should be done sometime this year,” Collins said.

City Council officials were pleased.

“It’s something that’s been talked about for years,” said Ward 4 Councilman Larry Orlowski, who represents the area where the roadway is located. “I remember talking and working with Dean McKay (the former longtime Ward 4 councilman) about the situation there. This is very good news for the area.”

Nicole Dailey Jones, chairwoman of council’s streets and transportation committee, said the benefits of getting the grant will go beyond the area where the work is being done.

“It’s definitely one of the projects that I’ve heard about from people all over the city,” she said. “By getting these funds, we’ll also be able to utilize other funds for other needed work in the city. The residents of the area have wanted it for some time, but it also affects people going through the area or near it.”

RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said his agency gave funds because RTA knew it was a concern of people in the area.

“It was a topic of discussion during the discussions about the Park-N-Ride in the area and when we discussed the NOMBL (North Olmsted Municipal Bus Line, whose functions RTA took over three years ago) operations and how to handle all of that,” Calabrese said. “It’s great news which will help that area out considerably.”

Collins said he would expect the bids to be awarded in a few weeks and a more specific time on when the work will be scheduled to be done after that.