ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

CANTON — Kimmens Road residents who called for improvements to their street following the deaths of two Tuslaw High students earlier this month should begin to see changes, including the installation of a donated guardrail by hydraulic pile driver once the weather breaks.

Trustees signed off on the proposed improvements Tuesday, following a meeting between Kimmens Road residents and the Stark County Engineer’s Office last week.

The biggest change will be the addition of guardrail along a stretch of roadway in the 13000 block of Kimmens be installed by hydraulic pile driver. It will barricade the manmade pond where the two teens crashed Jan. 7.

The galvanized guardrail, the most costly portion of the improvements, will be donated by Canton-based Gregory Industries, which specializes in galvanized steel guardrails, including guardrail beams, guardrail posts, according to Trustee John Speicher.

Noah Reidenbach, 17, and Keith Klett, 16, died after the Chevrolet Corsica they were driving in went off the roadway and sank into the pond. Hazardous weather conditions likely played a factor in the crash, the Ohio Highway Patrol has said.

But other Kimmens Road residents spoke out days later, saying the roadway has become a raceway for speeding motorists who use it as a shortcut between Kenyon Avenue and Ohio 93.

The steel guardrail will be placed in the road right-of-way by the county engineer’s office. Trustees also agreed to pay any labor costs assessed to the township for the work.

“Whatever it (cost) is, we can pay for it,” Trustee Terry Hemperly said.

The county already has placed orange barrels in front of a utility pole and by a mailbox at the 13100 Kimmens Rd. home of Catherine and Brandon Bleigh, who made an initial plea for a steel guardrail installedby hydraulic pile driver last year, but were denied because traffic volume and accident history did not support it.