A new, temporary roundabout at the intersection of East Main Street and Horning Road has opened, showing how road improvements are beginning to take shape on the north side of the 麻豆精选 campus.
The result is a new traffic pattern for the area, with some roads reopening and others closing temporarily as the $26 million construction project to create two new roundabouts along the Ohio Route 59 corridor continues.
The new road patterns, which began Jan. 8, are expected to remain through sometime in the spring, and will keep the project moving forward during the winter, Jeffrey Bittenbender, of the Office of the University Architect, who is serving as Kent State鈥檚 project manager for the construction, told 麻豆精选Today.
Bittenbender said as part of this phase of the ongoing road project:
- Horning Road between Theatre Drive and Main Street will be relocated 200 feet to the west, aligning with Overlook Drive. At this intersection, a temporary roundabout will be installed to maintain traffic flow while the future permanent roundabout is being constructed in phases.
- Horning Road between Theatre Drive and Loop Road will be closed through sometime in April. A posted detour will guide vehicles around the closure using Jackson Drive.
- Theatre Drive between Jackson Drive and Horning Road, which had been closed, reopened Jan. 8.
- The three-lane section on East Main Street will be reduced to two lanes from approximately Frances Street to the United Methodist Church by removing the central turn lane. This will allow more room on East Main Street for crews to build the center median.
- The position of the temporary roundabout will require that Overlook Drive be closed at East Main Street. Overlook Drive will be maintained to the north for the residents, and access into and out of this section of road will be from Woodhill Drive.
Jon Giaquinto, senior engineer for the city of Kent鈥檚 Division of Engineering, said access to all nearby buildings and their parking lots, including the Administrative Services Building, the University Newman Center and the Kent United Church of Christ, will be maintained at all times.
Those coming from the east, he suggested, may find it easier to take Rhodes Road to access the Horning Road buildings from the east. Those coming from the west may prefer to take Midway Drive to Theatre Drive, to Jackson Drive, to navigate onto campus, he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really going to be up to the driver to figure out based on where they want to go,鈥 Giaquinto said.
The project will change the look of the East Main Street/Horning Road intersection, which will be realigned through what had been the marching band鈥檚 practice field just east of the Performing Arts Center, so that Horning will align with Overlook Drive on the north side of Main Street.
The temporary roundabout that opened will provide an indication of the shape of things to come, but the finished roundabout will be much larger, Giaquinto noted.
One of the benefits of opening the temporary roundabout on Horning, he said, is to allow construction crews to have safer and unobstructed access to Horning Road for work on sewer lines and underground utilities, which can be performed in cold temperatures outside.
Other work, including paving and concrete work, is temperature sensitive and can鈥檛 be undertaken in the cold of winter, he said.
The three-year construction project along the three-quarter-mile stretch of Ohio Route 59/East Main Street will make the thoroughfare safer and more attractive with the addition of two roundabouts.
The work is a joint effort between Kent State, the city of Kent, the Portage Regional Transit Authority, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study and the project鈥檚 Citizen Advisory Committee.
The goal of the construction is to make East Main Street safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, while creating a continuous park-like corridor along the entire northern edge of the Kent Campus, Bittenbender said.
Two-way traffic will be maintained on East Main at all times during the construction period. All work is expected to be concluded by the end of 2028.
Newly added to the construction project is an additional 225 feet of sidewalk on the east side of Midway Drive, between Alumni and Theatre drives. This additional sidewalk will increase pedestrian safety by completing a missing connection between two nearby sidewalks on what is expected to be a busy pedestrian route. In addition to the new sidewalk, concrete curbing, ADA ramps, relocation of a storm drain, and adjacent pavement resurfacing will be included.
Giaquinto said because the work was added after the project was already approved, an additional period for public comment on the new sidewalk is now being accepted through Jan. 14. Comments received during this period will be compiled and addressed. Any comments should be sent to Giaquinto by calling 330-678-8106 or emailing Jon.Giaquinto@KentOhio.gov, or to Bittenbender at jbittenb@kent.edu.
Bittenbender noted that the large construction project is one of the key components of Kent State鈥檚 Gateway Master Plan, which focuses on extending the park-like feel of the Front Campus to the east, enhancing the northern gateway into campus, and creating a welcoming arrival for visitors.
The project will turn East Main Street into a tree-lined boulevard, with new and improved bus stops with shelters, decorative street lighting, and a new, 10-foot-wide paved path along the south side of East Main from the campus Gateway Arch to Horning Road, to be shared by pedestrians and cyclists.