City gets $6.5M state award

Sewer, roads among dozen projects set for next year

A bicyclist and motorists navigate over cracks and potholes on Bancroft Street near Scottwood Avenue in the Old West End.

The city of Toledo received a boost to its infrastructure funds Tuesday with the announcement of a $6.5 million financing award from the state.

The money, a mixture of grants and loans from the Ohio Public Works Commission, will be used for 12 projects in the city in 2013, Mayor Mike Bell said.

"This will allow for us to complete even more projects inside the city of Toledo to address our infrastructure concerns," the mayor said. "Some of our biggest complaints now are that we have so many roads torn up, that it's a little bit inconvenient for people. But if you'd been here a couple of years ago they were asking us to be able to fix these roads, and we're addressing that particular issue."

Most of the projects involve reconstructing and resurfacing main thoroughfares in the city and include two utility-construction initiatives and work on sewer overflow tunnels as part of the Toledo Waterways Initiative.

The award money is already contemplated within the $31 million in road repair and reconstruction projects planned for next year, Robin Whitney, the commissioner of engineering services, said. This year the city is spending $28 million on road repairs.

Mayor Bell praised the city's engineering staff for writing grants that secured the funding, which officials stressed is a competitive process. Toledo competes against other municipalities in Lucas County for the funds, which total about $10 million a year, Ms. Whitney said.

"$6.5 million coming to the city of Toledo is a great number, we're very pleased with that," she said. "We feel that we're getting our fair share of the dollars. It seems to be reflected in the success that we've been able to achieve."

George Robinson II, deputy director of the Toledo Department of Public Utilities, said the money also helps bolster the local economy. Spending on the Toledo Waterways Initiative -- a federally mandated expansion and upgrade of the city's sewerage network -- averages $40 million a year, he said.

"That equates to definite economic development through payroll, through construction projects through the tertiary business that service those industries that are helping" with the initiative, Mr. Robinson said.

The Ohio Public Works Commission funds will be used for the following street paving projects. They will begin this year and next:

Bancroft Street from Reynolds Road to Ottawa Hills

Bennett Road from Sylvania Avenue to Eleanor Avenue

Benore Road from Alexis Road to Matzinger/Hagman roads

Cherrylawn Drive from Heatherlawn Drive to Glendale Avenue

East Broadway from Woodville Road to Nevada Street

East Broadway from Nevada to Sixth Street

Silver Creek from Stickney Avenue to Detroit Avenue

Suder Avenue from Shoreland Avenue to Alexis Road

Upton Avenue from Dorr Street to Bancroft Street

Money will also be used on the following utility improvements:

To install a sanitary sewer line in the Dearden/Birdsall area

To replace an aging water line on Glendale Avenue between the Anthony Wayne Trail and Oak Hill

In addition, $1.9 million is slated for improvements to sewer tunnels running under the city.

Contact Claudia Boyd-Barrett at: cbarrett@theblade.com or 419-724-6272.