TOLEDO, Ohio — As the unofficial end of summer is here, the end of construction season is nearing too.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is steadily chipping away at the major construction projects in our area including the I-475 and Dorr Street interchange, which just opened, and the I-75 widening project.
But that's just part of the work being done around Northwest Ohio.
"We have some smaller projects. Some slope repairs, culvert replacements, bridge replacements, and some of those have seen some impacts," said Rebecca Dangelo, Pulblic Information Officer for ODOT District 2 . "We have seen a lot of rain recently, especially for any earth-work that's going to be impacted."
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As the bulk of the construction season comes to an end, Dangelo says there have been a few delays but nothing that will have a major effect on the projects' timelines.
Dangelo reminds drivers that crews must do the work while keeping the roads open for traffic, which has an effect on how fast they are able to do the work.
"One of our main focuses is keeping traffic moving and keep people able to get to where they need to be. There are quite a few projects, that if we did full closures, we would obviously be able to complete sooner, but it is important to remain open. Like I-75, major corridor and we need to keep that transportation going," said Dangelo.
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Locals are no strangers to the orange barrels, but Dangelo wants to remind you to keep your eyes open. As construction progresses, we still start to see more changes.
"Some of these longer-term projects like I-280 and I-75, we've been in these configurations and people are kind of getting used to them. So we really want to remind them, they do have those variable speed limits, those can change day-to-day. We recently had some traffic pattern changes," said Dangelo.
ODOT also wants to remind motorists, it is a state law to slow down and move over if they see crews working.
If you are not able to move over, you do have to slow down significantly as you pass them.
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