Dec. 12 AMATS Policy Committee meeting
Covered by Documenters Ken Evans and Fadhila Fofana (see the notes here)
Drivers who are frustrated by a six-way intersection, known as “Barney’s Busy Corners” on the border of Cuyahoga Falls and Akron may get some relief in the next year or two.
In December, members of the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) Policy Committee approved spending $325,465 to build new signals, controls and signage at the complicated intersection near the now-defunct Chapel Hill Mall.
Dubbed “Barney’s Busy Corners,” the intersection is located where Howe Avenue, Brittain Road, Northwest Avenue, West Howe Road, Tallmadge Road and Bailey Road come together.
According to a 2014 Cuyahoga Falls History post, “Tip’s Market and Barney’s Busy Corners” was named after Jack D. “Barney” Barnes, who operated a grocery and butcher shop at the intersection between Tallmadge and Bailey roads. “By today’s standards [the store] was very small with narrow isles,” the post said.
In the 1950s, a gas station, a barbershop and a beauty salon opened. “Over the years there were other businesses housed in the building but all are long gone.”
Today, several businesses sit at the busy intersection, including a Rockne’s restaurant, a used-car dealership and, up the hill, Chapel Hill Church and Chapel Hill Christian School. And while Chapel Hill Mall closed in 2021, it’s been replaced by a business park along with retail and restaurants that remain along Howe Avenue.
The intersection dates back to 1856, Cuyahoga Falls City engineer Tony Demasi told the Akron Beacon Journal in 2017. The city was hoping to receive $6 million in federal funding to put toward a $13.4 million project to reconfigure the intersection to alleviate traffic congestion, according to the article.
It’s unclear when work will begin, but according to an AMATS memo, the funding is scheduled for fiscal year 2027.
Stow roundabout among five funded projects
The committee approved $14 million for five projects across the metro Akron region through the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program.
Following a statewide call for project proposals for CMAQ funding, the AMATS region received 19 applications from area municipalities totaling more than $69 million. AMATS staff scores and ranks each project based on state standards.
The other approved projects include:
- AKRON AREA: $2.08 million for METRO RTA to replace three compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that are beyond their useful lives.
- PORTAGE COUNTY: $2.31 million for PARTA in Portage County to buy four clean-diesel buses to replace four older buses.
- STOW: $3.6 million for a roundabout in Stow at the intersection of Fishcreek and Stow roads.
- TWINSBURG: $5.8 million for a citywide coordinated signal system in Twinsburg that includes 35 intersections along state Routes 91 and 82 as well the Ravenna Road corridor.
All five projects are subject to further review, including public involvement and analysis for “financial constraint, civil rights, air quality and consistency” with AMATS’ Regional Transportation Plan.