Stonewater Drive, previously a dead-end road, now connects West Main Street to Fairchild Avenue.

A three-way traffic light at the intersection of Stonewater Drive, formerly called Admore Drive, and West Main Street, between the Klaben Ford and the Don Joseph Toyota dealerships, will be operational starting today. ??

The Admore Drive Extension project connects West Main Street with the Lakes at Franklin Mills houses and condominiums. The project cost $1,060,000 with $353,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

City engineer Jim Bowling said the light was evaluated and approved by the state in 2005 before he became city engineer. He said designs for the project began in 2006, about the time money for the project was set aside. Construction began last year.

One reason for the time gap is the city is not required to install the traffic light once the state warrants it, he said.

“Once you know it’s permissible, it’s a matter of what’s its priority versus the rest of the city and how much money is required to maintain it,” Bowling said.

Bowling said the light has been installed because of the anticipated traffic increase now that Stonewater Drive is no longer a dead-end road. Tom Wysocki, treasurer for Klaben Ford, said sometimes he just sits and waits several minutes to turn out of the parking lot, particularly between 3 and 6 p.m. “When it’s open it’ll be a nice addition, especially with residents on the other side of the Fish Creek Bridge, because they’ll have access to this side of Kent,” Wysocki said.

The intersection has video detection to activate the signal as well as a push-button crosswalk for pedestrians.

New concrete sidewalks will be installed at the intersection along with curb ramps. The road will have concrete driveway entrances for the car dealerships, grass lawn strips and street trees on both sides of the road. Guardrail ends on all four corners over the existing Fish Creek Bridge will also be replaced.

Fluorescent orange temporary signs have been placed next to the road to indicate where traffic should stop. The signs will be removed and appropriate stop lines will be marked on the pavement when the weather allows. At that time, work on the sidewalk and seeding will also resume.

Contact public affairs reporter Nicole Stempak at [email protected].