New parking spots the city of Toledo recently set up on the left side of Erie Street north of Jefferson Avenue are free for now, but don’t expect that to last long.
“The new parking is currently not metered, and Park Smart is in the process of getting and installing parking kiosks for each new section,” city spokesman Amy Voigt said Friday when I inquired.
The new parking seemed to be especially popular last week near the Lucas County courthouse. I watched one person struggling to parallel park there without mashing one of the white “delineators” that supplement the painted pavement markings.
Ms. Voigt said those plastic white posts “are expected to stay,” while orange barrels sprinkled between them to call further attention to the new lane layout on Erie are temporary.
The city posted Aug. 9 as the date for making similar changes to Michigan Street between Jackson Street and Jefferson.
“There will be some lane restrictions and at times a full closure. Any full closures will take place after 9 a.m. and will be open before 3:30 p.m.,” Ms. Voigt said.
While the city’s initial announcement about these streets’ changes suggested Michigan would be done immediately following the July 19 work on Erie, Ms. Voigt said city engineers were not quite finished yet with the layout for Michigan.
“This street has a few issues that have taken some time to work out with the design, such as the current concrete bumpouts, parking already on both sides [near the library], and more driveways,” she said.
My suspicion is that some of the lanes on Michigan will become narrower than they are now to accommodate the planned creation of a bike lane, just as happened on Erie.
Right now there is “no plan or schedule to add concrete islands or any other permanent improvements” to perpetuate the new lane configurations on Erie or Michigan.
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When the Lucas County Engineer’s Office and Toledo Department of Transportation announced midweek last week that Holland-Sylvania Road would be closed at the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing south of Angola Road for railroad repairs on Thursday and Friday nights, the statement included a schedule caution beyond “weather permitting.”
Timely reopening, they said, would be “dependent on weather, train traffic, and the railroad schedule.”
As is often the case with railroad crossing closings, Norfolk Southern justified its skepticism. Under dry skies, the pavement around one of the two tracks crossing Holland-Sylvania was ripped out on Thursday. Then nothing whatsoever occurred Friday, another sunny day, and the crossing remained closed all weekend.
Small piles of new railroad ties lined that track, suggesting that tie replacement in the area was the reason for the work. But evidently scheduling whatever work crew will maintain the track at Holland-Sylvania to be there right after the pavement’s removal was not on the railroad’s priority list.
The Toledo area’s weather is supposed to turn somewhat stormy — along with hot and humid — for most of the coming week, so it’s anybody’s guess as to when the track maintenance will actually occur. And whoever the railroad uses to repave the crossing once the track is finished may or may not be there right away to complete that task.
So unless you’re curious to see what the railroad underneath a road crossing looks like — hint: it looks just like regular railroad track — avoid Holland-Sylvania between Angola and Airport Highway for at least the next day or two, maybe longer. Use Reynolds Road (U.S. 20) instead.
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Lewis Avenue’s usefulness as a through route from downtown Toledo to Bedford Township will be compromised again for a few days this week.
The start of a sewer and roadway reconstruction project on a side street, Alvison Road, will close Lewis’ northbound lane at Alvison on Monday and Tuesday, weather permitting. Through traffic will be detoured via Eleanor Avenue and Bennett and Laskey roads.
Alvison will be closed between Lewis and Vermaas avenues for an entire month.
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The Craig Memorial Bridge reopened to traffic Friday evening following electrical repairs that had been delayed because of a driver who crashed through the span’s safety gates earlier in the month.
Other area bridges will have short-term lane closings this week for inspections.
All week starting Monday, the I-280 Veterans’ Glass City Skyway will have lane closings for inspection of its cable stays.
On Tuesday, the State Rt. 64 Waterville Bridge and the State Rt. 295 Grand Rapids Bridge, both over the Maumee River, will have flag zones.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the State Rt. 795 viaduct over CSX Transportation and East Broadway will have lane closings.
Additional bridges will be inspected later in August, including I-475 over the Maumee River on Aug. 5, I-75’s bridges near downtown Toledo on Aug. 12 and 13, and main deck inspections on the Skyway Aug. 19 through 22.
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• I-75: Resurfacing closes mainline lanes at night between State Rt. 199 and Glenwood Road. Lane closings also possible for bridge work north of the Ohio Turnpike at Lime City Road, which is closed. Parapet wall repairs may still close a southbound lane at the DiSalle Bridge.
• I-75: Left lane may be closed near Hancock County Road 99 north of Findlay for a bridge project.
• I-75 (Mich.): Lane closings, Exit 5 (Erie) to north of Exit 9 (LaSalle), for roadway reconstruction. Southbound traffic is crossed over to the northbound side. The southbound exit ramps at Exit 9 (South Otter Creek) and Exit 6 (Luna Pier) are closed; use LaPlaisance Road (Exit 11) or Erie Road (Exit 5) instead.
• Ohio Turnpike: Exit 34 (State Rt. 108/Wauseon) is closed for reconstruction; use Exit 25 or 39 instead. Traffic narrows to two lanes each way two miles east of the Elmore interchange (Exit 81) for bridge work.
• I-280: Traffic shifts to the right between State Rts. 2 and 51 for median reconstruction. Two lanes remain open southbound but northbound traffic is reduced to one lane through the zone until mid-August.
• I-475/U.S. 23: No shoulders and traffic is shifted between U.S. 24 (Exit 4) and Angola Road for reconstruction and widening. Both ramps connecting southbound I-475/U.S. 23 with westbound U.S. 24 are closed until mid-August. Detour through other interchange ramps to get from southbound I-475 to westbound U.S. 24. Use Ford Street and Dussel Drive to reach southbound I-475 from westbound U.S. 24. Monclova Road will be closed at I-475 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday for overhead bridge work; detour via Briarfield/Technology/Jerome.
• U.S. 20A/State Rt. 2: Closed at Main Street (westerly junction of State Rt. 64) in Swanton for sewer construction until mid-September. Detour via U.S. 20 between State Rts. 295 and 109. Route 64 detours via Routes 20A/2, 295, and 20.
• U.S. 24: Nighttime lane closings in Maumee and Waterville between Monclova and Dutch roads for resurfacing.
• U.S. 24 (Fearing): Lanes closed between Airport Highway and Hill for overpass replacement. Consider Byrne Road as an alternative route between Airport and Hill.
• State Rt. 2: Lane closings west of State Rt. 163 in Ottawa County for slope repair.
• State Rt. 25 (Anthony Wayne Trail): Inbound right lane may be closed intermittently between Copland and Glendale for landscaping following multi-use path construction.
• State Rt. 25/U.S. 24 (Anthony Wayne Trail): Lane closings between Monclova Road and Detroit Avenue for finish work related to a recent repair, repaving, bike path, and landscaping project.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge: Reduced to one lane westbound for reconfiguration related to the Glass City River Walk. A second eastbound lane is open but a jog at Riverside Drive is not properly striped.
• State Rt. 65 (River): Closed to through traffic between State Rts. 64 and 235 for culvert replacements until mid-August. A posted detour uses U.S. 24, on the opposite side of the Maumee River, between Route 64 and State Rt. 295.
• Talmadge Road: Closed for resurfacing between Alexis and Laskey through about Aug. 7. Use Secor instead.
• Broadway Street: All lanes except one inbound lane are closed to through traffic between Newbury Street and Western Avenue for street reconstruction. Western (State Rt. 2) remains closed at Broadway and several other cross streets also are closed nearby.
• Glendale Avenue: Culvert work requires lane closings between Fallbrook Road and Cherrylawn Drive until mid-October.
• U.S. 23/30: Left lane closed in both directions at the State Rts. 53/67 interchange on Upper Sandusky’s north side for pavement replacement.
• U.S. 6: Flag zones between U.S. 23 and State Rt. 53 in Sandusky County for resurfacing though September.
• State Rt. 795: Lanes closed between I-75 and State Rt. 51 for repaving, which mostly occurs at night (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.). The eastbound ramps at East Broadway until Wednesday, followed by the westbound ramps.
• State Rt. 579: Flag zone this week between the two legs of Elliston-Trowbridge Road in Ottawa County for replacement of drainage tile below the roadway.
• McCord Road/Bancroft Street: Roundabout construction closes westbound Bancroft approaching McCord and southbound McCord after Bancroft. Detour to Dorr for Bancroft and to King for McCord.
• Salisbury/Holloway roads: Intersection closed for roundabout construction until late August. Use Maumee-Western (U.S. 20A) as an alternate for Salisbury and either Albon or Manley as alternates for Holloway.
• Summit Street (Mich.): The I-75 Exit 2 Connector is restricted to a single lane governed by traffic signals for ongoing bridge work just north of I-75.
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