City Eyes Madison Avenue Paving Project

Last year, the city applied for — and was denied — $1 million in state funding for a $2 million project to repave all three miles of Madison Avenue.

City officials are planning to apply for the grant again.

Joe Beno, the city’s director of public works, said it’s been about 20 years since Madison Avenue was fully repaved. However, it gets the regular patch treatment.

“It’s not the worst street, but it’s one of the worst,” he said.

At last week’s meeting, an application for $250,000 in grant funding from Cuyahoga County was approved — but that money would only be used if the city gets the green light from the state.

“If we don’t get the money from the Ohio Department of Public Works Commission, the city is not going to spend $2 million of its own money to repave Madison,” Beno said.

He said if the city doesn’t get approved — the grant deadline is Sept. 30 — the public works department would try again next year. He pointed out that the city applied for funding to repave Bunts Road for four years before getting approved in 2008.

“There are a number of categories they score things on and the highest ones get the projects.”