An engineer from Choice One Engineering shares a presentation on proposed changes to Cable Road intended to increase safety for traffic and pedestrians.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Community members visited the UNOH Racers Station on Thursday night to view proposed plans to install sidewalks and make alterations to a section of Cable Road.
Lima public works employees heard at-times confrontational questions from business owners and city councilmembers questioning the need for sidewalks and fewer lanes along the road from Latham Avenue to College Park West that plans call for.
“I just think there are a lot of unanswered questions,” Lima councilman Jon Neeper said after the meeting. “I think that they’re not really taking into consideration the traffic flow. I understand their numbers, but anyone who lives in Lima knows that this is a bottleneck to begin with, with four lanes, and we’re going to take it down to two? I don’t see that being possible if that’s the case.”
Engineers from Choice One Engineering shared a presentation showing the rates of angle and right-turn crashes from the past few years, excluding 2020, and plans to introduce sidewalks, raised medians, road diets and new traffic signals with the project, which would begin April 2026 and finish July 2027 and cost an estimated $6.25 million.
“We’re trying to provide mobility for all users,” Lima public works director Kirk Niemeyer said in response to questions about sidewalks. “Not everybody has a motor vehicle. Also, UNOH has approached us numerous times about the safety of their students who have to cross the street frequently.”
Several business owners were not convinced, with one questioning their responsibility for maintaining the sidewalks in winter weather conditions.
Pam Schroeder said she requested a sidewalk along Cable Road after being forced to give up her driver’s license due to vision impairment.
“There are a lot of communities where there are sidewalks along the businesses,” she said. “If you don’t have a sidewalk and people can’t walk there, then those that walk are not going to go there unnecessarily, especially in the winter when there’s snow. I would think businesses would want that.”
Neeper said he also had concerns about how removing two lanes of the road would affect turn lanes leading into businesses along the road.
“I have no problem with having the median in the center, but they told a business owner that just moved in at Clock Tower Plaza that they will not give them a left turn lane into their parking lot,” he said. “I think it’s ludicrous. They were basically told they don’t have a dog in this fight and think that’s just wrong.”
Niemeyer said, “We develop a purpose in a project, and the purpose in this one was to reduce crashes, improve pedestrian safety and still maintain the roadway, so that’s what our proposal puts forth. We tried to do the research first and come up with what we believe is the best proposal to put forward, present that and let people comment on it. We can make changes because we’re still in the early stages of this project, so it’s a great process to get those out there and get them addressed.”
The Ohio Department of Transportation and Lima are asking for more input from the public on this project until April 21.
Anyone interested in sharing thoughts can visit the project website, publicinput.com/CableRoad, and view renderings and a timeline, as well.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
