Long Term Construction Project to Primarily Target Rebuilding I-70 Through Zanesville Starts

A new, long term construction project in Zanesville to primarily reconstruct and resurface I-70 through Zanesville is underway as of July 6.

The construction will consist of strictly night work and motorists will see lane restrictions between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 A.M. The project has been structured to be rolled out in four phases with the first phase slated to start sometime in October of this year. The entire project is estimated to take six years to complete.

“So this is probably, this is the biggest project that Zanesville has ever seen, I’m just going to say. And I would definitely say that it’s going to be inconvenient at times. You’re just going to have to bear with us. There are going to be some traffic issues, especially early on, whether it’s backups on I-70, or it’s bottle necks being routed to local roads because there’s a ramp closure, it’s going to happen frequently. Just be prepared and if you have to change your route, you have to change your route,” said ODOT District 5 Public Information Officer Morgan Overbey.

The construction is specifically going to be taking place with the corridor of US-40 to the West and State Route 93 to the east.

“It includes a full reconstruction of I-70 and it also is resurfacing as well. So, what you’re going to see is multiple bridges being rehabbed. Some of those include a full reconstruction. Some of those just include a full deck replacement, but I believe that there are 16 total bridges that are going to have some sort of work done to them within the downtown corridor of Zanesville,” added Overbey.

Overbey also add that there will be various bridge and ramp closures throughout the entire project.