PROCTORVILLE — In about three weeks approximately 50 percent of the Indian Guyan bridge replacement project should be completed.

When the bridge will be open to two-lane traffic, however, is currently unknown.

This past week the bridge, which has been one lane since June, was shut down completely for two nights for crews to set in nine of the 21 I-beams for the entire project.

“That I-beam installation is completed,” Kathleen Fuller, public information officer for Ohio Department of Transportation-District 9, said. “The I-beams go across the bridge to support the deck.”

By mid-October the concrete should be poured. Then traffic will be re-routed onto the new lane of the bridge. Next crews will start work on replacing that second lane.

“They tore out one half of the old bridge to reconstruct it,” Fuller said. “Then will be the next phase of the construction. It will be rebuilt the same as the first.”

A construction worker’s death early on in the replacement caused delays in the project that was originally scheduled to be completed by Oct. 31.

“Now is a critical time because of the weather,” Fuller said. “When you are pouring concrete, you have to have a certain temperature and the asphalt plants shut down in November. They are bringing in extra crews but we won’t meet (the Oct. 31) date.”

Complete General Construction of Columbus is in charge of the $2.85 million project to replace less than a quarter of a mile of bridge.

As motorists continue to experience delays as they travel Ohio 7, another project that was slated for this summer has been postponed for about a year.

That is replacing a culvert on State Route 243, about a quarter of a mile from its intersection with Ohio 7 at Bradrick.

“There will be a reconstruction of the culvert and widening the lane and adding shoulders,” Fuller said. “They are trying to keep it at a 60-day closure and they want to do it after school lets out.”

That means the project that will shut down both lanes of the roadway won’t start until June 1 with a targeted completion date of Aug. 1.

BUDS Incorporated of Nashport will do the construction of the under half-mile project at a cost of $742,185.

The truck detour will be Ohio 7 to State Route 775 to State Route 217 to State Route 378. The local detour will be via Eaton Road.