Motorists who expect to travel U.

Monday, January 03, 2000

Motorists who expect to travel U.S. 23 in the new year will get some relief from traffic woes. All four lanes of U.S. 23 between Waverly and Piketon are scheduled to reopen to traffic by Jan. 7, which will eliminate two and a half miles of construction barrels in the four-mile stretch, Ohio Department of Transportation officials reported.

"Although the project did not typically cause traffic delays for motorists, the completion of it will mean even fewer lane restrictions for the motorists who travel this major north-south route," said John Hagen, ODOT District 9 deputy director. "When all four lanes of the bridges are opened to traffic, the only lane restrictions motorists will encounter on U.S. Route 23 in Pike County will be north and south of downtown Waverly, and those lane restrictions shouldn’t have as much impact now that we have the northbound and southbound lanes of U.S. 23 open to traffic through the majority of Waverly."

U.S. 23 was reduced to one lane in each direction between Waverly and Piketon while crews from C.J. Mahan Construction Co. of Grove City replaced three northbound bridges and rehabilitated three southbound bridges.

During the $8.6 million bridge repair and replacement project, Mahan crews removed the concrete slab decks on the six bridges and replaced them with wider, concrete bridge decks. The substructures of the southbound bridges were repaired and widened, and the substructures of the northbound bridges were replaced and widened.

The bridges were widened to match the width of the roadway.

Although the project south of Waverly will be wrapping up soon, motorists will continue to face traffic problems through the downtown area for several months in the new year, said Holly Snedecor-Gray, ODOT District 9 public information officer.

"That is the project with the completion date of Oct. 31, 2000," Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said. "The contractor does say he thinks they’ll be done by June or July. They will be working on bridges throughout the winter, even though they cannot do any paving."

Alternate routes around Waverly construction include Ohio 32 and U.S. 35.