Road improvement project to pave the way for Trumbull County economic development

The Trumbull County Transportation Improvement District has approved the use of part of a $621,500 grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to pave the way for economic developers to move in.

The project will focus on the intersection of Burton Street and Pine Avenue and Deforest Road and Pine Avenue. At both sites, the work will make sure the lanes are wide enough for a tractor trailer to easily make a turn and improve the roadway to be able to handle heavy construction equipment.

The improvements will allow the Kimber Clark Corporation to start its construction on a million square foot manufacturing facility.

“We need to make sure that road is prepared to hold that kind of weight load over a consistent period so that we’re not patching potholes every year or destroying people's personal vehicles,” Nicolas Coggins, the Chairperson of the district said. 

The project is in conjunction with the Western Reserve Port Authority using a $17 million grant to build a bridge over the Mahoning River to connect Pine Avenue to State Route 45.

The Port Authority is focusing on getting the roads west of the site up to par while the district is focusing on the eastern roads.

The access roads will direct trucks to the site and ensure they avoid clogging up the downtown roads.

“Improving these roads and getting that western access will not only allow Kimberly Clark to hopefully expand here but also attract other businesses to the other available acreage so that we can bring more manufacturing jobs to the area,” Coggins said. 

Guy Coviello with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber told 21 News the area could see the company Graphite One move in. That project is not set in stone but would “rival” or even be bigger than the Kimberly Clark Project and bring hundreds of more jobs.

He added that the other empty space owned by the Port Authority is big enough to house one large company or several small companies. 

The road improvements are now in the design phase. The district's next step is to select an engineer for the plans.