The Ohio Department of Transportation is currently targeting the weekend of Sept. 20 to reopen the westbound lanes of the Norwood Lateral. Westbound State Route 562 was closed in June for resurfacing and other repairs and had been slated to reopen around Aug. 30.
Weather is being blamed for the delay.
"What really slowed them down was last week with the heat," says Elizabeth Lyons, ODOT District 8 public information officer. "They had attempted to do some concrete pours for the Ross Avenue bridge deck. It was just too hot. They even tried to do the concrete pour starting around nine o'clock in the evening, but then that pushed them into lane closures lasting until eight o'clock in the morning, and we like to get the lanes open by 6 a.m."
RELATED: Eastbound Norwood Lateral to reopen, with westbound work starting soon
Lyons tells WVXU that concrete work is now anticipated to be completed the week of Sept. 9, and paving work will begin after that.
Additional extreme heat or inclement weather could push the timeline out further.
"We don't see any rain, except for this (Friday) afternoon, so hopefully, weather dependent, everything will work out OK," Lyons says.
The project remains on-budget, she adds.
Similar work on the eastbound lanes was completed in May. Once the westbound work is done, there will be some finishing work that will need to be done in both directions. The entire project is expected to be completed in June of next year.
