What is the purpose of the project slowing your morning commute? When will it be done? How much will it cost?
These are the types of questions Akron leaders have been deluged with since Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan took office in January, especially because of an unusually large number of sewer and road projects happening at once in the city.
Horrigan and his staff realized they needed to find a better way to share information about the projects. The answer they came up with is a new website — www.driveakron.com — that includes an interactive map with up-to-date information on projects, including start and end dates and cost.
“We needed another way to communicate and a good hub for our infrastructure vision,” said Annie McFadden, Akron’s deputy chief of staff.
Akron announced the new website Friday in an ad in the latest edition of Akron Life magazine and soon will begin promoting it through the city’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The site focuses on downtown projects. The area for each project is outlined and basic information is provided, with additional information for those who want it.
For example, the map shows the Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel — the giant tunnel being bored through downtown Akron to store storm water — and says the project started in November and will end in June 2019. A click on “additional information” provides the cost ($184 million) and an explanation of the project and its long-term benefits.
City Engineer Jim Hewitt, whose office helped with the site, said the city will have a significant amount of construction downtown in the next two years and the site is aimed at helping people to navigate around it. The projects include the reconstruction of the interchange at Interstates 76/77 and South Main Street/South Broadway, improvements to Cedar and Exchange streets and sewer work on Perkins Avenue.
“That’s a whole lot of activity in a very small area,” Hewitt said. City officials are hoping the site will help to deter people from avoiding downtown and instead going to the suburbs.
“Someone might go to the site and see, ‘This street is under construction, maybe I want to take this one instead,’” Hewitt said.
Besides providing information on projects, Akron also will use the site to share plans for future endeavors, such as the redevelopment of state Route 59, better known as the Innerbelt. The city is currently improving Dart and Rand avenues that run parallel to the Innerbelt with plans to close the section of the freeway that runs through downtown by next fall and find a new use for this prime parcel.
Christine Curry, Akron’s spokeswoman, said the city also may use the site to share such information as road closings when a big event like the recent LeBron James celebration is held downtown.
McFadden said the DriveAkron site isn’t modeled after one in another city, but is aimed at being easy to navigate and mobile-friendly.
The new website cost Akron about $15,000, with some work done in-house and the rest handled by WhiteSpace Creative.
Visitors to the site can sign up for a new, quarterly enewsletter the city plans to start, which will include updates on projects as well as other topics. The site also provides a spot for people to pose questions about ongoing projects. The city may answer frequently recurring questions in the e-newsletter, McFadden said.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.