Councilmember Carla Thompson comments on the public works department’s presentation on the Cable Road project at Tuesday night’s Lima City Council meeting.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima City Council heard from a representative of Clocktower Plaza and public works director Kirk Niemeyer about the proposed project to add sidewalks to Cable Road and reduce accidents.
Council was split on the project, with Carla Thompson and Peggy Ehora both expressing interest in plans for sidewalks and Jon Neeper continuing to voice displeasure with the plans that call for installing a median and diet along the section of the road and turning four lanes into two for part of it.
“I can’t get behind this project,” Neeper said. “I have discussed it with hundreds of people, and I can’t get one positive comment.”
Chuck Whitman read from a letter delivered to council to protest the project, which will last from April 2026 to May 2027, will affect businesses.
“This will choke off future businesses,” he said. “The railroad crossing is already an obstacle, and this turns it further into a bottleneck. There will be a ripple effect in businesses around the area.”
Niemeyer said the second alternate plan of the four possible ones would present the most positive impacts to the issues facing the section of Cable Road from Latham Avenue to College Park West with no negative impacts, and it would only add three seconds of delay for traffic.
The project, which will cost $6.25 million, also calls for traffic signals to be rebuilt and for sidewalks to be constructed along the corridor.
Thompson said she was encouraged by the project’s potential to reduce vehicle traffic while improving conditions for pedestrians.
“I originally was put off by this project because it didn’t make a lot of sense, but one thing I have learned is that engineers bring a lot of knowledge to the table,” she said. “I know that this is a delicate balancing act, but our students need to be able to walk the streets and the disabled do, too. I hope we find a solution.”
Ehora said she was willing to keep an open mind on the project.
“I’m anxious to see how this shakes out when you’ve gotten comments from the public,” she sad. “It’s the main corridor, but it’s an awful corridor.”
Neeper countered by calling for University of Northwestern Ohio to construct an overpass for students and maintaining that the project would stifle business.
“We are here to build this city, and building it means we will have an increase in traffic,” he said. “Part of the mayor’s program is to build the city. If you’re bringing more business to town, there is going to be more traffic, and if you’re doing this project there are going to be real problems.”
Niemeyer said after the meeting the project can take countermeasures to fix safety problems within the existing right of way.
“We do not have any right of way to widen Cable Road to fit everything that we’ve been asked to provide for, which is pedestrian access and safety, reducing crashes and calming traffic,” he said. “But we use that toolbox to come up with those countermeasures, and we presented that in four different alternates. We put it in a matrix and compared the pros and cons of each one to see which will look the best and function for the community.”
The public works department is still accepting comments from the public at the project website, publicinput.com/CableRoad#tab-48933, until April 21 and will answer any questions in May.
Project decisions are set to be announced in June, and property owners will be contacted in October.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
