An Ohio Department of Transportation project on State Rt. 4 south of Sandusky that starts Monday affects a primary route to Cedar Point.
Roundabout construction at Route 4’s intersection with State Rt. 99 and Skadden Road, between Mason and Portland roads, is expected to last through Aug. 29.
The official posted detour is a circuitous disaster. It uses State Rts. 2, 101, and 269, Sandusky Street in Bellevue, Ohio, and U.S. 20 to get back to State Rt. 4, or continuing on U.S. 20 to State Rt. 99. Shorter options are available for cars on local roads.
An Ohio Turnpike Commission advisory urged travelers headed to Cedar Point to use Exit 118 (U.S. 250) instead of Exit 110 to get to the amusement park — or other downtown Sandusky points — during the project.
But from Toledo, a better alternative is to just use State Rt. 2, either directly or by exiting the turnpike at Exit 91 (State Rt. 53) and take that to Route 2 eastbound for Sandusky.
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Two new roundabouts closer to Toledo, meanwhile, are nearly complete.
A Lucas County project to build one at Sylvania Avenue and Kilburn Road in Richfield Township is now more than two-thirds complete and on-time for completion next week.
“Right now, we’re on track for Aug. 10, but future weather could change that,” County Engineer Mike Pniewski said last week.
A site visit revealed that the remodeled intersection was nearly ready for paving. Until that’s done and pavement markings and sign installation is complete, continue using nearby parallel roads to get through the area.
Bowling Green’s project at East Wooster Street and Campbell Hill Road, meanwhile, is on the verge of completion. While lane closings remained in place over the weekend, it looked like everything could reopen within a few days.
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In Fulton County, a culvert replacement on U.S. 20A/State Rt. 2 just north of Wauseon will have another extended detour posted, but with shorter options for passenger vehicles.
The highway will be closed Monday through Friday between Glenwood Avenue and Fulton County Road 13. Commercial vehicles be directed south on either State Rt. 109 or State Rt. 108 to U.S. 24 near Napoleon. It’s not obvious to me why a northward option using those highways to get to U.S. 20 wouldn’t work better, although perhaps the Ohio Turnpike’s bridge project above Route 109 is the reason for that.
In any case, car traffic should use one of the parallel county roads rather than going miles out of the way to either U.S. 20 or U.S. 24.
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A long-running outage affecting some of the dynamic, variable-color lights on the Anthony Wayne Bridge may soon be fixed.
Doug Stephens, director of the Toledo Department of Transportation, said as much as one-third of the decorative lighting system has been inoperable for more than a year because of vandalism to a control box.
Replacement parts have been ordered and the repair is expected to cost the city about $16,000, Mr. Stephens said.
“We’ve already taken care of caging things so this vandalism can’t occur again,” he said last week
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Here’s a weather-related construction delay we haven’t heard of before.
An Ohio Department of Transportation project to repave State Rts. 19 and 163 near their intersection in Oak Harbor has been disrupted by a lightning strike hitting the asphalt plant supplying the work.
Consequently, paving on Route 19 north of the intersection has been postponed indefinitely until repairs are finished.
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• I-75: Reduced to two lanes each way between Wales Road and the Anthony Wayne Trail for reconstruction and replacement of the DiSalle Bridge.
• I-75 (Mich.): Lane closings, Exit 5 (Erie) to north of Exit 9 (LaSalle), for roadway reconstruction. Northbound traffic is crossed over to the southbound side until late in the construction season. The northbound entrance at South Otter Creek is closed.
• I-475/U.S. 23: No shoulders and traffic is shifted between U.S. 24 (Exit 4) and Angola Road for reconstruction and widening. The ramps from westbound U.S. 24 to northbound I-475/U.S. 23 and from northbound I-475/U.S. 23 to westbound U.S. 24 are closed long-term with detours posted. U.S. 20A (Maumee-Western Road) closed at I-475 for bridge reconstruction until mid-November.
• Ohio Turnpike (I-80/90): Left lane closed westbound after the I-280/Stony Ridge interchange for several miles.
• Ottawa River/108th: Intersection closed for reconstruction until Labor Day weekend. Use Shoreland Avenue or Suder Avenue/Manhattan Boulevard/Summit Street instead.
• U.S. 20: Lane closings just east of Woodville, Ohio for a resurfacing project.
• State Rt. 25/U.S. 24 (Anthony Wayne Trail): Lanes closed in both directions between Monclova Road and Detroit Avenue in Maumee for repair and resurfacing.
• State Rt. 2 (Airport): Lane closings at Airport Highway and Byrne Road during intersection widening, and at Airport and McCord Road for intersection modifications.
• Secor Road: Closed to through traffic between Bancroft Street and Dorr Street for replacement of a bridge over the Ottawa River. Use Douglas Road instead. Partial reopening is expected Aug. 23.
• Sterns Road: Closed through September between the northerly leg of Whiteford Road and Whiteford Center Road for intersection widening, drainage improvements, traffic signal upgrades, and resurfacing. Detour via Whiteford, Consear Road, and Secor Road. Whiteford Center Road is closed approximately 750 feet north and south of Sterns Road for work at the intersection.
• Front Street (Toledo): Southbound right lane closed for curb and driveway construction between Morrison Drive and Oswald Street through Wednesday.
• State Rt. 120 (Central): Closed to through traffic until mid-August between Reynolds Road (U.S. 20) and Corey Road for replacement of a bridge over the Ottawa River. A posted detour uses Central Avenue, I-475 and Secor Road. Corey is also suitable for passenger vehicles.
• State Rt. 25: Closed at U.S. 6 on the south side of Bowling Green, including all U.S. 6 ramps, until mid-August..
• State Rt. 64: One lane is open each way between I-75 and Mercer Road in Bowling Green for roundabout construction at Campbell Hill Road.
• Monroe Street (Sylvania): Monroe’s reconstruction between a point west of Silica Drive to Main Street will shift from the eastbound lane to the westbound lane on Friday. Replacement of Silica’s bridge over Ten Mile Creek is expected to finish Aug. 14, so it will be open in time for the Sylvania Schools’ Aug. 21 start of classes for the fall.
• U.S. 127: Closed in Defiance County at the Maumee River until May, 2024 during bridge replacement. Car traffic may detour via State Rt. 18 or Old U.S. 24 to The Bend Road, but large commercial vehicles are detoured via State Rt. 15 and U.S. 24 around the western outskirts of Defiance to get over the river.
First Published July 30, 2023, 11:13 p.m.
