AUSTINTOWN TWP., Ohio - There may not be significant rain in the forecast, but the next time there is a downpour, some people living in Austintown's College Park neighborhood are worried the street could end up underwater. 

Crews are continuing their work smoothing out the roads on multiple Austintown streets. It’s part of a  $1.3 million dollar project that will lead to seven miles of roads being paved.

What's left behind in the College Park neighborhood during construction is asphalt covering drains and manhole covers.

Some residents are happy about the work, saying it was well overdue.

“The roads were horrible before. They're smooth now, they're not done with them yet,” said Anthony Phillips of Austintown.

Some are hoping for the best.

“We're hoping that the end of the driveway, where they pulled some of the cement out, will be smoother once they're complete,” said Sheri Hufnagel of Austintown. “The curb up above is extremely high. So coming into the entrance way, into the driveway, is extremely bumpy.”

But others are worried the work is leaving them vulnerable. When similar work was done in a nearby neighborhood in 2025, new problems began.

The sides of the roads started to puddle when it rained, and rain collected in front of homes where the road drains were carved out.

“We lost some of the curbs on the street, which okay whatever, but I mean you take somebody's house who's draining into the street to prevent flooding up by their house, and now you've half blocked it, when they did that, now the water sits on the side of the street,” said Justin Peterello of Austintown. “We’re less than a year in and we’ve already got cracking on the street because of the drainage issues.”

Peterello also said stopping the flooding in front of his home will be costly.

“The street can cause what they call bellying where it’s going to freeze and get down and ruin the pipes in my yard. To the tune of $2,800 I’m going to have to pay to have these all dug up and reran because it was paved too high,” said Peterello. 

Bruce Shepas Austintown trustee, said partly covering some manhole covers is just part of the repaving process.

“There are some concerns. People are maybe unaware of what the process is. And when it comes to these sewers, and the paving that we dug down around 2 inches, and then we raise it up a little bit after the asphalt is laid, it looks like the water is not going to drain in the sewer,” said Shepas.

Shepas said  the paving and other work is expected to be done in the next few weeks. 

“When the contractors have to reset these, they will use a three inch block, exactly this type of block, and they'll take the half moon sewer lid, and reset it on top, and the problem  is alleviated. Everything will drain properly,” said Shepas. “This is normal, this is normal, business as usual.”

In the meantime, Shepas acknowledged the water may not have anywhere to go.

Township officials are asking anyone with any questions or concerns about the paving to reach out.