TOLEDO, Ohio — It may not feel like it outside, but we're headed toward the end of summer and that means it's also time to wrap up road construction.
The executive director of the Ohio Turnpike, Ferzan Ahmed, spoke about updates Thursdays on where they're at with Capital Improvement Projects for 2019.
"When people drive on the Ohio Turnpike, they have an expectation that they will drive on a smooth, safe, and a pothole-free road," Ahmed said.
In Greater Toledo, there are 10 projects worth $58 million between Williams and Sandusky Counties and nine bridges are being re-decked, widened, replaced or removed.
The 10th project involves resurfacing nearly 12 miles of roadway including around six in either direction out west to the Indiana state line.
The Commission sees this work as an investment, rather than an expenditure.
"There is one cost associated with the investment of repairing roads, and that is the cost of delay to our customers as they go through construction zones. That requires us to sometimes close lanes and sometimes close ramps, and we do our best to provide alternate routes. The one cooperation that we need from our customers, slow down as you're going through our work zones," he explained.
This year's "investments" include a full bridge replacement of the Perrysburg Holland Road Bridge over the Turnpike mainline, which is set to finish up as soon as next week.
Also included is the roadway widening and bridge replacement at I-280 and State Route 420.
Detours will remain there through Halloween.
The project is on hold due to a delay in shipment of structural steel for the bridge expansion. The last shipment of steel will come from Pennsylvania on September 23.
"There are only a few steel manufacturers in the country and everybody wants to finish their projects before the end of the year. So when it comes to bridge beams and light pole, everybody knows that towards the end of the year, we are looking a the possibility, a very strong possibility of a two to four week delay. In our case we had a few weeks delay, but we will again, get that bridge completed before the end of the season,"said Ahmed.
Across the turnpike, the Commission will have invested nearly $200 million to improve the travel experience.
That funding comes from toll fares, not taxes.
Overall for the Turnpike, about 544 bridges have to be maintained.
All of those bridges have passed annual inspections, NONE are rated in poor condition or are structurally deficient and about 40% of Turnpike construction projects this year were for bridge improvements.
