After three months of construction, County Road 403, or Irene Road, reopened to traffic at 5 p.

Saturday, December 04, 1999

After three months of construction, County Road 403, or Irene Road, reopened to traffic at 5 p.m. Friday, said Holly Snedecor-Gray, Ohio Department of Transportation District 9 public information officer.

"The good weather played into it," Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said. "Sometimes we don’t want to get overly optimistic on the project, so we factor in a few additional days."

But those days were not needed, she added.

Although not scheduled to reopen for another couple of weeks, the roadwork is now finished, Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said. And, hopefully, the good luck and good weather contractors experienced during the project will continue in February when Ohio 7 is scheduled to be shut down around Big Paddy Creek Bridge during the bridge’s replacement, she added.

"Work is supposed to begin in February 2000," Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said. "I haven’t heard of any delays. The reason we won’t start earlier is because the weather’s likely to be bad before February. Once we’re in there, we’ll work as quickly as possible so that the road will not be closed that long. We want to minimize the amount of time the public will be inconvenienced."

When Big Paddy Creek Bridge is closed, motorists will be detoured onto Ohio 775 to Irene Road, which is the shortest detour available.

"It’s a pretty close detour," Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said. "And we’ve done the improvement to the road to make it more suitable to traffic. Basically, there were twin culverts that needed to be replaced, and the pavement needed to be resurfaced. We’re satisfied with the work."

Irene Road had to undergo extensive repairs, including the twin culvert replacement, so that it will be able to handle detoured traffic once Big Paddy Creek Bridge is closed, she said.

The bridge replacement is necessary because of the bridge’s deteriorated condition and in preparation for the widening of Ohio 7 through Proctorville, Mrs. Snedecor-Gray added.

The bridge is scheduled to be closed for about 120 calendar days.

The widening of Ohio 7 has been postponed by five months, however.

Originally slated to be put out for bid in September 2001, the project has been rescheduled for January 2002, Mrs. Snedecor-Gray said.