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CHAMPION – Township officials have contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation to discuss installing a noise barrier on the State Route 5/82 Bypass, scheduled for construction in 2026.

Chairman of the Trustee Rex Fee

said the project was delayed during the coronavirus pandemic and will begin in 2026 and be completed either by the end of the year or early 2027.

“The project is still on the list… COVID has pushed back a lot of projects,” he said, noting that the project was already being discussed before 2020.

He said trustees were pleased the project remained on schedule.

Fee, a retired civil engineer, said he knows how noise barriers help prevent loud traffic noise from penetrating surrounding residential areas.

Route 82 is a busy thoroughfare through Trumbull County, and traffic noise causes problems for residents of neighborhoods near the highway.

In 2018 and 2019, residents attended trustee meetings and shared their concerns about noise from semi-trailers, motorcycles and other vehicles.

Residents said they were in their yards having a barbecue and didn’t hear anything because of the engine braking. Streets where residents expressed concerns included Stewart Street, Relim Drive, Brookside Drive and Mahoning Place, all of which are south of the highway.

To qualify for the barrier, the houses had to have been built before the highway was built and the noise in the houses had to reach a sound level of over 67 decibels.

Both criteria were met and more than 50% of residents in the affected area agreed to the construction of a noise barrier.

The local councillors stated that no additional tax money would be used to build the barrier.

Trustee Doug Emerine and former trustees Brian Bugos and Bill Templeton spent several weekends going door-to-door in neighborhoods near the busy highway to collect more than 50% of residents’ signatures on a petition that would then be submitted to ODOT.

The trustees said they heard the loud noise of constant traffic as they walked through the residential areas.