Road closures are coming to Route 4.
Starting next week, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will close portions of Route 4 north of Marysville that will affect traffic until the end of May.
Crews will be replacing culverts along the road beginning at Wolford-Maskill Road. The closure will start Monday at 8 a.m. The work is the first in a series of projects ahead of a large-scale, road resurfacing measure for Route 4 between U.S. 33 and Route 37. Work will encompass culvert replacements and a bridge repair happening throughout the summer and fall.
“The work starting next week is being done in-house by ODOT before we start the resurfacing project. We were planning to do the culverts and since we’re doing a large stretch of road, we’re making sure the culverts are done before new road goes in,” said Matt McGuire, Public Information Specialist with ODOT. “The plan is to start there at Wolford-Maskill Road and head north.” McGuire said the work is weather dependent and dates can change.
The work will run from Apr. 29 to May 27. Starting Monday, the detour will be Route 4 to Route 347 to Route 31. According to ODOT, when closures are made, they can only recommend detours on state roads.
On July 8, the next project will close Route 4 for 30 days to replace a culvert just south of Route 347.
“For that, we will use a contractor since the culvert is a pretty significant one,” McGuire said. Immediately after it is replaced, crews will begin a second project that is rehabilitation work on the bridge over Blue Creek, just south of Macklin Road. McGuire said the work is reinforcing structural elements and making the bridge safer. ODOT will have Route 4 closed there for 60 days.
The final project will be road resurfacing which will begin in August. Crews will resurface the more than 10-mile section of Route 4 from Scott Farms Boulevard to Route 37. They will also resurface a less than one-mile section of Route 37 in the northern part of Richwood from Beatty Avenue to just north of Mulvane Road.
“It shouldn’t involve any full closures. We should be able to maintain traffic but will have signage and flaggers,” McGuire said. “We will also have more detour information as we get closer to the start of the projects.”
No start dates have been listed yet for the resurfacing project but ODOT’s traffic advisory has the work running from August to October.
A full list of culverts being worked on has yet to be released.