JACKSON TWP., Ohio. — Several improvements are coming to State Route 241 in Jackson Township.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will spend the next year making bridge repairs, repaving the road and constructing a roundabout.
The $9.7 million safety improvement project begins Friday. Crews will get to work in the area south of the State Route 241 and Shuffel Street intersection. ODOT said crews will be making repairs to a local bridge there.
In addition, crews will do drainage repairs. ODOT said those changes will help with area flooding.
During this project, the pavement along State Route 241 will also be replaced between Mudbrook Road and the Summit County Line.
ODOT said a roundabout is also on the list of safety improvements. Crews will construct a roundabout at the intersection of State Route 241 and Shuffel Street. ODOT spokesperson Justin Chesnic said there have been accidents at this intersection. Chesnic said ODOT data shows roundabouts make intersections safer.
"In an intersection, you have either stop signs or red lights, and as folks go through those, they either blow through those, and if another car is coming at 40, 50 miles an hour, folks can get hurt pretty bad," he said. "[In a roundabout], folks can travel through there, keep moving, but they're going 20, 25 miles per hour. If there is a crash, [it's] very minor injury crashes, if that happens at all."
Chesnic said the project as a whole will take a year to complete. The first closure will take place Friday with crews closing the bridge along State Route 241, just south of Shuffel Street.
Drivers will still be able to make a right turn and head north. Drivers heading south will need to take Shuffel Street to Frank Avenue to Strausser Street. Semis and 18-wheelers will need to take Route 241 up to Interstate 77 and over to State Route 687.
Chesnic said the State Route 241 and Shuffel Street roundabout will be built next year. It should take crews about 60 days to complete.
