U.S. 250 project to start Oct. 18

As Norwalk braces itself for the closure of U.S. 250 at Rattlesnake bridge, the city has received a bit of good news.

Mayor Sue Lesch, along with Josh Snyder, public works director, and officials from the Ohio Department of Transportation and Mosser Construction from Fremont, met to hammer out some details on the project Wednesday.

Rattlesnake bridge is located between Norwalk and Milan, almost right on the Huron-Erie county line.

"We did receive some relatively good news," Lesch said. "The road will not be shut down as long as we thought. The dates for shutdown now are Oct. 18 through April 15."

Lesch said this announcement lessens the days where the area will have to deal with the closure.

"That takes it from nine months to six months," she said. "That's good news."

The mayor said John Hart, deputy director for ODOT District 3, was pleased with the proposed business detour route.

"It's called the Norwalk north-side business route," Lesch said. "And they approved our signage on 250."

Lesch said those traveling from the north can go west on Shawmill Road, south on Plank Road and east on Lais Road.

What about those coming to Norwalk from the south?

"There will be some signage for those coming from the south," the mayor said. "We're working on that as far as the verbiage and location."

The U.S. 250 bridge project is one of three local projects in the works.

East Main Street in Norwalk currently is under construction, with a best-case completion date set for Oct. 1, but with the possibility of the work not being done until Oct. 31.

Also, the Shawmill bridge project in Erie County, which was recently completed, needs leaking joints repaired. The Erie County engineer's office recently reported that repair work would not conflict with the U.S. 250 project.