DAYTON — Dayton City Commissioners approved a $2 million dollar project Thursday to rebuild Salem Avenue, which is one of Dayton’s busiest roadways.
News Center 7′s Mike Campbell spoke with city leaders and neighborhood residents about what the project means, and how long the construction could last.
City planners said that the first phase of the Salem Ave. reconstruction will begin at North Ave., the post office, and will go north to Manhattan near Grace United Methodist Church.
This will be the first phase of four phases of work on Salem Ave.
Joe Weinel, Chief Civil Engineer of Dayton, said there will be “complete removal of pavement, the base, all new curbs, sidewalks, and ornamental street lighting.”
Weinel also confirmed that traffic will probably be down to one lane in each direction, with a turn lane while the work goes on.
“It will hopefully rejuvenate that area, got the new market opening soon, all kinds of stuff going on,” said Weinel.
Dayton is only paying for 25 percent of the cost as they secured 75 percent of the funding through state and federal dollars.
The drivers that News Center 7 spoke with today are happy about the road reconstruction project.
Jerald Robinson drives Salem Ave. often, where he experiences the bumpy ride that came from previous work that left the road scarred.
“It’s right in line with other improvements going on on Salem,” said Robinson. “It’s going to be good for the neighborhood.”
City planners believe contractors will begin changing traffic patterns for the start of the project in the next three to four weeks,
Phase two of the four phase Salem Ave. reconstruction project is scheduled for 2022, and will run from Riverview Ave. and the bridge from downtown up to North Ave. and the post office, connecting to where Phase 1 began.
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