ODOT Construction Kickoff

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Transportation held their 2017 O.D.O.T. Construction Kickoff today in all 12 districts.

The Construction Kickoff for District 5 which includes Coshocton, Fairfield, Guernsey, Knox, Licking, and Muskingum Counties was held at the old Licking View Elementary School on in Zanesville. Public Information Officer Morgan Overbey said O.D.O.T. invited community members to hear about the upcoming projects.

“This is kind of the role out of construction season and a lot of people are starting to see orange barrels and they’re wondering why, they’re wondering what we are doing,” Overbey said. “So we’re kind of here to let the people know. We have 62 total projects in District 5 this year totaling to, I think an estimated amount of $207 million.”

The biggest project for Muskingum County is the I-70 and U.S. 40 Interchange Bridge Replacement Project that will take two years to complete, according to Peg Hatem the District 5 Construction Area Engineer.

“We will be replacing the bridges [and] widening them in stages,” Hatem said. “We’ll have two lines of traffic all the time on [Interstate 70] during the primary high volume traffic hours. There will be probably lane closures down on [State Route 40] on occasion.

O.D.O.T. has already put the barrier wall up on I-70 and have set up the lanes of traffic items and are now starting to remove a portion of west-bound bridge that will be built first.