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CELINA - School officials must replace a three-way traffic signal at the intersection of Wayne Street and Fountain Avenue with a four-way traffic signal as a result of the design plan for the new grades 7-12 school.
"We didn't foresee all of that, but we knew in some way we were going to impact that avenue out there … depending on how we worked through the design," school facilities director Phil Metz told Celina school board members this week.
The traffic signal project is estimated at $641,000, though some school officials believe it can be done for considerably less, with in-kind assistance from the city and possible Ohio Department of Transportation grant dollars.
As part of the $135 million building project, project architect Garmann Miller hired Choice One Engineering to conduct a traffic impact study,
"It was an ongoing study. It was over the better part of last year where they monitored the traffic that goes by on Wayne Street," Metz said.
Traffic study results, Metz said, were then applied to the design of the new middle school/high school to be built between the current high school and the site of the now razed primary school.
Specifically, the study impacted "where the bus is going to exit out onto Wayne, where's the public going to exit, where's our teachers going to enter, where's our students going to enter and exit," Metz said.
As the design now stands, the majority of school traffic will exit across Fountain Avenue between Thieman Tailgate and the football stadium, Metz said. There is currently a three-way traffic signal at the intersection of Wayne Street and Fountain Avenue.
"Obviously that's going to need to be replaced with a four-way light," Metz said the traffic impact study determined. "Again, that's an off-site improvement. That has nothing to do with the OFCC (Ohio Facilities Construction Commission) project. It's not co-funded. There's no project dollars involved with that."
Metz said he met with city officials and Mercer County Community Development Director Jared Ebbing to see about possible assistance in installing the four-way traffic signal.
"One of the things he talked about was there was a grant available through ODOT when Thieman (Tailgate) did their addition over here, and they thought that there was a possibility they could use that same justification for ODOT funds."
School officials, though, must submit a letter to ODOT indicating their intent to cover the remaining balance of the project.
Metz said he's confident the school could get as much as $100,000 in ODOT grant dollars left over from other state-assisted projects. Moreover, the city has committed to providing in-kind labor equivalent to about $100,000, Metz said.
"They will cover the labor end of doing the traffic light, so replacing the poles, engineering, all that wiring and electrical," Metz said. "There's a portion of it that had to do with the traffic light and then there's also some enhancements to the street. They have to put in a turn lane. They have to do some winding there."
With those two sources of funding, the school would be on the hook for $441,000, based on the engineer's estimate.
"Talking to the city, they feel that they would be able to come in well under the cost estimate the engineering firm put together," Metz said. "So the hope is that it will come in under the estimate."
Board president Carl Huber echoed that sentiment.
"We have multiple entities involved in this that are saying it's a very high estimate," Huber said.
