Business View - May 2015 175
The bidding process for a $2.2 million reconstruction
of Kibby Street is expected to end soon and work is
set to begin on the city’s south side in May and run
through the end of November, Niemeyer said.
In addition to the work on the road itself, project-re-
lated tasks will also include installation of new curbs,
sidewalks and drainage systems – all of which were
part of the state’s Access Ohio 2040 plan.
“We have a regional planning commission and we
work closely with ODOT,” Niemeyer said.
“Every once in a while we sit down and try to figure
out what the grand plan is and where we need to fix
things in order to stay a viable community. We’re chip-
ping away at it slowly.”
Going forward, he said, the focus will be less on build-
ing new sections of road and expanding the city’s exist-
ing footprint, and more on fixing infrastructure and im-
proving traffic flow downtown. What would significantly
aid in that task, however, would be a more coherent
federal transportation bill that, in turn, would make it
easier for cities like Lima to have a forecast for the
next five or 10 years.
“We’re stepping back and just fixing what we have and
trying to make it drain properly and function properly
from a traffic standpoint to get people from Point A to
Point B,” Niemeyer said. “A lot of these big projects
take years and years of planning, and you can’t con-
tinually get to the point where it’s buildable because a
lot of times ODOT or the other agencies will not allow
you to move forward until you have all that funding in
place. It’s just keeping us at a standstill in some cases.
“Until that time, we’ll just try to take advantage of any
funding that comes our way. But from a federal stand-
point, we need to have a better outlook in terms of
funds so we can plan bigger and get bigger and better
things done.”
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