TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) -
Residents in a south Toledo neighborhood are not very
happy that the main roadway there is set to be completely re-built. The change
will come at a cost of $1.8 million and decades-old trees.
Cherrylawn Drive in the Crossgates neighborhood near Swan
Creek Metropark will be re-constructed from Heatherdowns to Glendale Avenue. Toledo
City Councilman Mike Collins said the concrete is crumbling and must be
rebuilt.
"Allowing blight to come into the neighborhood will
create that," Collins said. "So I want to re-invent Crossgates with new
streets, new street appeal, and new curb appeal."
Bids for the project will be opened Tuesday, and starting
in April, the work will begin. The road won't be widened, but will have new
asphalt, and new sewer and water lines will be installed in the 50-year-old
neighborhood.
Collins and other city officials led a public meeting to update
residents on the plans, but he said many residents have found the project
difficult to accept. The biggest complaints are that sidewalks will have to be
installed to ensure some state funding for the project, and the City will have
to remove the large trees on the curbs that make the neighborhood stand out.
"The experts are telling me the trees have to come down
because the root structure will be so dysfunctional as a result of the
trenching," he said. "Within 3-5 years, all the trees will be dead."
But Collins said sidewalks will get kids off the street
when playing or bicycling, and all residents can feel better about that.
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