Dover, Ohio (WJER) - City officials are preparing for a street paving project being spearheaded by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Dover Service Director Dave Douglas says city council is working on legislation allowing ODOT to pave Commercial Parkway starting at State Route 39 near the overpass and going all the way to West High Avenue in New Philadelphia. 

Douglas says the city will share some of that work, but ODOT will cover the majority of the roughly two-and-a-half mile project.
            
“That’s nice because that will pave a lot of road through our areas because some of that on 39, like on Commercial Parkway and also on 39 between Dover and Phila, it’s in and out of Dover. It’s some it’s in Dover, some of it’s ODOT, so it’s kind of confusing,” he says. 

Douglas says the total cost to the city for the paving will be about $23,000. He says the next step will be for council to give ODOT permission to fix the road. 
 
“They’ll have to approve the paving. They’ll have to approve the amount paid to ODOT, and it allows ODOT to do it,” he says. “It’s the same thing as what we’ve done over the years whenever they paved in town in other areas. They have legislation, and we have to have legislation passed to make us eligible to work with ODOT. It’s basically their project.

“It’s a lot of help because you’re paving two main streets,” he continues. “You’re paving Commercial Parkway and also 39 between Dover and Phila. Those are heavily traveled streets. That’s a blessing for us, it really is, and a blessing for Phila. It really helps us out tremendously.”

Douglas says that work is expected to begin sometime in 2020.

RYAN PASTIRCAK, WJER RADIO