The Blade's Road Warrior

Area road construction" rel="storyimage1" title="The-Blade-s-Road-Warrior.jpg"/>
<br> <img src=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/gif/TO17150419.GIF> VIEW: Updated <a href=" /assets/pdf/TO299671012.PDF" target="_blank "><b>Area road construction</b></a>

The Blade s Road Warrior advises readers each Friday where the biggest driving headaches will be throughout the construction season. He ll tell you the locations

to avoid and the detours to take.

Stay away from I-75 in North Toledo this weekend if you can!

Traffic will be narrowed to a single lane north of I-280 in both directions for repaving from 7 p.m. today until 6 a.m. Monday, and the Ohio Department of Transportation

yesterday warned motorists to expect major delays.

Northbound, the work zone will be only between I-280 and Ottawa River Road, but southbound construction will start at the state line.

The best alternate routes are Telegraph Road (U.S. 24) or Dixie Highway (M-125) into Monroe County. Similar lane closings may affect I-75 across the border MDOT and ODOT are coordinating repair projects to occur simultaneously so if you re headed to Metro Airport, you may want to stay on Telegraph all the way to I-275.

U.S. 23 is a poor alternative, because it still has construction north of Dundee. That work was supposed to have ended in September but fell hopelessly behind schedule when state inspectors found problems with the contractor s construction materials and rejected them.

Kari Arend, an MDOT spokesman, said yesterday that current phases of the U.S. 23 work will continue into mid-November, and some construction may not be finished until next year.

Maumee police, meanwhile, yesterday urged motorists to avoid the intersection of U.S. 24 and Monclova Road because of construction there. Monclova is reduced

to one lane at U.S. 24 and is completely closed at Jerome Road for intersection improvements.

And in Oak Harbor, State Rt. 163 is closed this weekend for the annual Apple Butter Festival. Use State Rt. 2 instead.