Boston Heights is getting $50,000 in federal funds for the village’s first comprehensive land-use and transportation plan.
Ravenna is getting $50,000 to create a safer alternative for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders along state Route 44 in the city and Ravenna and Rootstown townships.
The two grants were approved Wednesday by the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, the Akron-based planning agency that oversees federal transportation funds in Summit and Portage counties and Chippewa Township in Wayne County.
Eleven 11 communities applied for Connecting Communities Planning Grants, which were offered for the first time in 2010. The program is designed to promote transportation options and livable communities.
The grant will provide a big boost to Boston Heights because recent state-funded improvements to state Route 8 have created new highway interchanges at Hines Hill and Boston Mills roads, said staffer Curtis Baker.
The grant will help the village develop a plan before development comes to the two interchanges, he said.
The concern is that uncontrolled development could negatively affect the village and the neighboring Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The grant will be “a big help” to Boston Heights, said Mayor Bill Goncy.
The village has been working toward such a plan for six to eight years, but the state Route 8 project increased the need to complete it, he said.
The grant “will be a big step forward for the village,” he said.
The village intends to analyze all transportation to develop traffic management strategies.
In Portage County, the grant will address transportation options along Route 44 from state Route 14 at Ravenna’s north edge south to the Northeast Ohio Medical University and Rootstown schools in Rootstown Township.
That heavily traveled corridor stretches five miles.
The AMATS governing board also approved Akron Metro RTA’s purchase of four large compressed natural gas buses for $2.5 million and 16 small natural gas buses for $1.84 million.
It also approved Metro RTA’s request to switch from diesel to natural gas on 10 buses already ordered. The total cost is $4.4 million, with federal funds paying 80 percent.
In other action, Ravenna Mayor Joseph Bica was elected chairman of the AMATS governing board for 2012.
He had served as vice chairman this year and replaces AMATS Director Bob Pfaff.
Connie Krauss of the Summit County Department of Development was selected vice chairwoman.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
