Mentor Receives State Funding For Plaza Boulevard Extension Project

The city of Mentor has received word that the Ohio Public Works Commission will provide both a grant and a loan to help fund the Plaza Boulevard extension.

The district approved a $450,000 grant and another $450,000 loan for the project, City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

Filipiak expects to go out for bids on the project soon after July 1, which is the earliest the city can use the OPWC funds.

The project will lengthen Plaza Boulevard until it intersects with St. Clair Avenue. This would create a north-south corridor that connects Mentor Avenue and Tyler Boulevard.

"This is an important project for us and an important north-south corridor," Filipiak said.

The city manager noted that the project would serve several purposes: it would alleviate traffic on Center, Mentor and Tyler roads and create a quicker route for safety forces.

Filipiak said almost all of the engineering and other preliminary work is done on the project and that all of the right-of-ways had already been purchased.

"It's possible we could see some construction as early as late summer, early fall this year," Filipiak said.

The city had wanted to find some outside funding for the extension so it would not need to foo the project's entire bill.

The city has set budgeted $3.4 million for the project and $1 million of that will come from Tax Increment Funding (TIF) money.