Cuyahoga Falls is about to open a new main road while preparing to make major changes to another.

Front Street in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls will open to traffic for the first time on February 3 after decades as a pedestrian mall. Mayor Don Walters says the first vehicles on the new road will be school buses from Cuyahoga Falls and Woodridge followed by a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am and a new Tesla to signify the years the street was closed and re-opened to traffic. A formal grand opening will be held in June.

While it will be easier to get around the Downtown area this year, it will get much more difficult to navigate the Chapel Hill area beginning next year.

Howe Avenue will be completely repaved beginning in April 2019. According to the plan unveiled recently, Howe Ave. will be one-way westbound (toward Route 8) from Main St./Home Ave. to Bucholzer Blvd. until the project is completed in the fall of 2020. That will allow shoppers who want to get to the plazas along Howe to use the entrances along Main/Home. Drivers who need to get to Chapel Hill Mall will need to detour down Main/Home to Independence Ave.

Walters joined The Jasen Sokol Show to talk about both projects and what they mean for Cuyahoga Falls.