By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Starting Monday, two of the overpasses used by Bowling Green area motorists will be shut down. Both East Wooster Street and Ohio 582 bridges over Interstate 75 will be closed to traffic.
The overlapping of those road projects has the Ohio Department of Transportation answering questions from annoyed motorists.
“We do get a lot of complaints about the timing,” said Reghan Waltmire, of the ODOT public information office.
But the simultaneous closures were unavoidable, according to Rebecca Dangelo, public information officer with ODOT’s District 2 Office.
“Unfortunately the State Route 582 and State Route 64 (Wooster Street) construction projects had to overlap in order for both projects to meet their timelines,” Dangelo stated.
The Route 582 project runs through October, and this current phase of work is “critical path” work, meaning it has to happen for the following work to be able to happen, she said.
And the East Wooster project runs through July and has to be complete before some larger events in Bowling Green, like the tractor pulls and move-in for the next college year.
“Luckily there is only about a two-week overlap of ramp closures during which someone trying to go northbound on I-75 will have to take U.S. 6 to go northbound on I-75 or they’ll have to take State Route 25 to Perrysburg,” Dangelo said.
But Dangelo pointed out that motorists will still be able to access three of the four I-75 ramps from East Wooster Street.
“Based on some calls we’ve been receiving, there seems to be some confusion about the ramp closures,” Dangelo said.
The only ramp that’s closed and will remain closed through July on East Wooster Street is the ramp to northbound I-75. The other three ramps will remain open, even during the full closure of the Wooster Street bridge over I-75.
At the next interchange to the north – Route 582 – the ramps to and from I-75 will all close May 29 through mid-June.
According to Dangelo, the project engineer is the same for both the East Wooster Street and Route 582 projects.
“So the two projects are in communication and trying to reduce impacts to people as much as possible. Closures are, unfortunately, necessary for both projects,” she said.
ODOT is also planning for a major rehabilitation project for Ohio 25 between Cygnet Road and Bowling Green in 2021-2022. The project calls for Route 25 to go on a “diet.”
This section of Route 25 pavement is coming to the end of its lifecycle and needs replaced, Dangelo said.
ODOT looked at a traffic analysis of the corridor, traffic volume counts, projected traffic volume counts for 20 years, crash history, capacity analysis of the current and proposed conditions, and cost of rehabilitation.
Based on this, ODOT is proposing a lane reduction from the south side of Portage to Cygnet Road, from four lanes to two lanes, with the addition of left turn lanes at intersections.
The plan calls for the new two-lane section to be located where the current southbound lanes are. From Portage to Bowling Green, Route 25 will remain four lanes.
ODOT plans to hold a public meeting after the first of the year, once there are graphics and better detailed information for the public to comment on.
