Fort Recovery to widen intersection

Work is progressing on the widening of an intersection in Fort Recovery.
Village council unanimously passed an ordinance approving and authorizing a right-of-way plat for the intersection of Butler (Ohio 119) and Elm streets (Ohio 49).
The new plat reflects property owners at the corners of the intersection dedicating additional right-of-way space.
The wider intersection should make the intersection less of a hassle for semi drivers.
“The whole idea is that with those radiuses pulled back, you don’t have to swing out. You don’t have to do anything special to make those turns,” village administrator Randy Diller said. “That’s the idea of pulling the radiuses back, trucks can make those turns without going left of center.”
The caution light has been removed from the intersection. Stop signs on Elm Street remain.
After the intersection is widened, Fort Recovery can leave the intersection as it is, make the intersection a four-way stop or get a traffic light. Diller is working on getting a price for a traffic light.
Police chief Jared Laux favors a four-way stop at a minimum.
That should cut down on drivers leaving the Shell gas station on the southeast corner and going directly into the intersection.
That action is common and caused an accident recently, he said.
In other business, the village council:
•Learned from Diller that he has spoken to Don Pierce, an expert at CTL Engineering in Columbus, about damaged bricks on Wayne Street. The damaged brick pavers were supplied by Reading Rock, which has said the problem is mostly because of snow removal, but Pierce’s opinion is that the bricks are not holding up the way they should be. The village’s next step is to provide Pierce the tests run on the batch of bricks used in Fort Recovery.
•Heard from Diller that the street overlay project is done. First, Railroad, Boundary, Broadway, Oak, Third, High and Wagner streets have been repaved.
•Learned from Laux that councils in St. Henry, Coldwater and Rockford have all passed ordinances authorizing the mutual aid agreement among their police departments. Fort Recovery’s ordinance was passed Aug. 17. The agreement will go into effect mid-October.
•Heard again from Sharpsburg Road residents Dillan and Paige Schulze, who do not want to be annexed into the village. Dillan Schulze said this week that they will be unable to afford living there if the annexation happens and increases their property taxes as they expect.