Road Warrior: I-75 switch delayed, and an ironic Bump sign on South Avenue

Aug. 2—One of the major I-75 traffic shifts at the DiSalle Bridge was completed last week, but not the other.

While all southbound traffic is now shifted onto the new span, the northbound lanes did not get done Friday night as planned. That shift is now scheduled for Wednesday night.

The postponement meant delays to several ramp changes, as well.

The South Avenue ramps on northbound I-75 had been slated to close Friday night for 60 days, but that was rescheduled to 4 a.m. Monday.

The Miami Street northbound ramps' two-day closing is now scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Wednesday, and that's also when the Wales entrance to northbound I-75 is now slated to close for 45 days.

Also delayed until Wednesday night was reopening the Miami entrance to southbound I-75. I suspect that postponement was the catalyst, because that ramp is to be used in the detour routes for several of the others.

Among the final tasks to be done as part of the massive I-75 reconstruction will be rebuilding South Avenue between the two sets of I-75 ramps, a decaying two-lane strip of concrete that surely dates back to I-75's original construction in the area.

It has been pummeled over the years by heavy grain and aggregates trucks traveling to and from the nearby river terminals, and has long been among Toledo's roughest streets because of its cracked and uneven concrete panels.

A little bit of South was rebuilt early in the project as part of rebuilding the ramps at southbound I-75.

Since then, there has been a bit of unevenness between that new piece of street and the section immediately to its west, with a bright orange Bump sign advising westbound motorists about it.

And every time I drive past that sign, I can only think, "Considering what I just drove through to get here from Kuhlman Drive, how is it that THIS is the bump with a warning?!"

I wrote last week, briefly, about a closing on State Rt. 19 north of Oak Harbor for repair work at a crossing of the railroad spur to the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.

Silly me, I thought that rarely used track might be getting some maintenance.

What was happening instead was that the rails were getting paved over.

If Davis-Besse ever needs to get equipment in or out by rail in the future, that paving will have to be undone.

That's surely what also is scheduled to happen this week at State Rt. 590's crossing of the same track. The detour route will take traffic across the Route 19 crossing; Route 590 is scheduled to be closed Monday through Thursday, but the work last week on Route 19 didn't get finished until Saturday.

I-75: Reduced to two lanes each way between Buck Road in Rossford and Dorr Street in Toledo for reconstruction and widening. All four ramps at the Anthony Wayne Trail (State Rt. 25) interchange are closed, as are the northbound ramps at South Avenue and the northbound entrance at Wales. Ramp detours, some quite long, are posted and additional closings are possible at night and on weekends. The Trail is reduced to one lane inbound between City Park Avenue and I-75 and outbound between Lafayette Street and City Park. Its inbound exit to Collingwood is closed, with a detour posted via Erie, Washington, and Dorr.

I-75: Lane closings, I-280 to the Ottawa River. The Manhattan entrance to northbound I-75 is closed until mid-September, with traffic detoured to the Phillips Avenue entrance. Northbound I-280's right lane is closed approaching I-75 and the entrance has an immediate merge.

I-475/U.S. 23: Shoulders are closed with traffic shifts and a reduced speed limit during a widening project between Angola and Bancroft. Bridge painting may affect traffic under the freeway on Hill and Bancroft.

I-280: Reduced to two lanes each way, with no shoulders, across the Veterans' Glass City Skyway over the Maumee River until late this year for deck resurfacing. The southbound entrance at Greenbelt is closed. The northbound and southbound exits at Front and the southbound exit to Greenbelt will be closed nightly through mid-August from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

U.S. 6: Flag zones possible east of State Rt. 235 in western Wood County for pavement repairs through August.

U.S. 20 (Reynolds): Lane closings at the Hill Avenue intersection for reconstruction until mid-September.

U.S. 23 (Ohio): Shoulders closed and lane closings possible during noise wall installation between I-475 and Monroe Street in Sylvania.

U.S. 24: Lane closings for resurfacing between State Rt. 66 and Baltimore Street west of Defiance.

State Rt. 25: Lane closings between State Rt. 582 and King Road in Perrysburg Township for turn-lane construction.

State Rt. 65 (Summit): Reconstruction limits the street to one lane each way between Jackson and Monroe. Final lane markings are nearly complete.

Broadway: Northbound right lane closed at Western and Eastern avenues during those streets' reconstruction. Left-turning traffic at Western can cause significant delays.

Summit Street: Lane closings between 101st and 130th in Point Place for resurfacing.

Ohio Turnpike: One lane each way west of the Bryan interchange for reconstruction. Long delays are possible, especially Fridays and Sundays. Use U.S. 20A and U.S. 20 instead. The Indiana Toll Road also has several work zones between I-69 and Elkhart.

I-75 (Ohio): Nighttime lane closings may continue just south of Findlay while recessed pavement markers are installed.

I-75 (Mich.): Southbound single and double-lane closings possible between Exits 11 and 6 for pavement repair. Construction of a new bridge at Exit 11 also may require lane closings.

I-275 (Mich.): Two of three lanes closed for repair between Huron Road and I-94 affecting the main route between Toledo and Detroit Metropolitan-Wayne County Airport.

U.S. 6: Closed for reconstruction between Ridgeville Corners and the Henry-Williams county line through September. Detour via State Rts. 34 and 191 or State Rt. 66 South and U.S. 24. Closed for a bridge replacement between Sandusky County Road 232 and Riley Township Road 240, east of the Ohio Turnpike, for two months starting Monday. Detour via U.S. 20 and State Rts. 412 and 510.

U.S. 20: Eastbound lane closed at the U.S. 6 junction on the west side of Fremont for slope repairs into August. A posted detour uses State Rts. 590 and 12 to U.S. 6.

U.S. 20A/State Rt. 2: Flag zones for repaving between Swanton and Delta.

First Published August 2, 2021, 7:00am