LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Lima's Department of Public Works presented proposed alternatives for the Cable Road Project to Council Monday night after receiving considerable feedback from the public.
In Monday night's presentation, the portion of Cable Road from Latham Avenue to Windsor Drive will feature two northbound and two southbound lanes, along with a center median and a signalized U-turn at each end of this corridor. Major revisions to the plan occurred on the stretch of Cable Road between Windsor Drive and College Park West. This section will be made up of two northbound lanes, one center two-way left turn lane, and one southbound lane, with the sidewalk on the eastern side ending near the UNOH Indoor Athletic Complex. Despite the updates, councilors still convey strong concerns about the project.
"If we're going to a one lane and our first responders were to come, they would have a hard time coming south from the north," says Jamie Dixon, President, Lima City Council.
"I'm not real happy about it. The more I looked at it after we talked and then read through the comments, and there were things that I hadn't thought about, and there's even more now that I just can't get behind the project," says Jon Neeper, 7th Ward Councilor, Lima City Council.
After council, we talked with Public Works Director Kirk Niemeyer in response to the public and council's comments and concerns and how they came to this current proposal.
"Crashes in this particular corridor are extremely high, so that comes with the unrestricted ingress, egress, the movements where there's no real—it's just kind of a 'I'm going to go and hope I make it,' and with the volume of traffic out there combined with the access points, it's a recipe that ends in crashes a lot of times... so reason we implemented all these things is to reduce crashes," says Kirk Niemeyer, Public Works Director, City of Lima.
Niemeyer says the next steps are to respond to all public comments submitted earlier this year.
