Who’s footing the bill and safety concerns are some questions being asked by Ironton residents regarding the current road work on North Second Street.

Friday, April 20, 2001

Who’s footing the bill and safety concerns are some questions being asked by Ironton residents regarding the current road work on North Second Street.

Mayor Bob Cleary said the construction on the street is a wrap-up of last year’s road work that brought paving projects to the city.

Cleary said the road work is funded by monies from the Surface Transportation Program (STP) grant. He said the federal fund requires matching grants from the city to secure the money. Cleary said the city used money from the Empowerment Zone as the source for matching grants fund. Cleary said the cost of the project was about $500,000.

"No city money was expended…this was all grant money," Cleary emphasized,

Cleary explained that the construction projects carried over to this year because of the weather.

"Winter came fast last year and we elected to wait until this spring to finish," he said.

As for the safety issues related to the project, Cleary said Mountain Enterprises, the contractor for the construction, determines if traffic control devices are needed for the work site.

To work on the road, the contractors have shut down parts of one lane of the roadway. Drivers are required to cross left of the center line of the road in spots where work is being done. The only safety items in place are road blocks and barrels.

Cleary said, "we discussed this last year and the contractors told us they would determine if a flagman is needed on the job."

Cleary said if the contractors feel the work site needs a flagman, they’ll place them. The mayor said the road is wide enough to accommodate the areas where two lanes of traffic are condensed into one.