Rain hinders Conant Street repaving work

Adjacent work pushes completion back to next month

About three weeks of work remain on the $2.85 million Conant Street project in Maumee.

Rainy weather and complications involving a new supermarket’s construction have delayed the repaving of most of U.S. 20 in Maumee, but work should be finished next month, a city official said Thursday.

The $2.85 million repaving of Conant Street and Reynolds Road between the Anthony Wayne Trail and the Ohio Turnpike was scheduled for completion June 28.

But delays coordinating parts of the work with the Kroger market being built on the former Ed Schmidt auto dealership property at Reynolds and Dussel Drive and a wet spring combined to stretch the project out, said Joe Camp, Maumee’s public service director.

“We’ve got about three weeks’ worth of work left to finish up,” Mr. Camp said. “We’re looking at the middle of August before it’s done.”

Although it set no records, the 6.35-inch June rainfall at Toledo Express Airport was 78 percent above the normal amount, with 1.05 inches falling on June 1, 0.90 inch on June 10, and 1.22 inches on June 12.

Lesser amounts of rain fell later in the month, and southern parts of Lucas County were wetter in early July than the relatively modest rainfalls reported at the airport.

“Mother Nature’s thrown us kind of a curve ball,” Mr. Camp said.

Besides repaving, the Conant/Reynolds project has included traffic signal replacement, addition of sidewalks and a median near the Meijer supermarket at Holland Road, in addition to construction of traffic islands at Sofia and Clinton streets that restrict those side streets to right turns only at Conant.

Traffic has been shifted to the curb lanes while the inside lanes are repaved, a phase that includes the median construction, Mr. Camp said.

Despite the delays, the service director said he does not expect the project to run over budget. If anything, he said, “We expect to come in underneath the contract amount.”

Conant and Reynolds haven’t been the only construction hassle in Maumee this spring.

Also ongoing is the Ohio Turnpike’s construction of a third-lane in each direction between its Reynolds interchange and I-75 in Perrysburg.

Turnpike bridge widening has closed Michigan Avenue at the toll road since early April, prompting residents to worry about access if an emergency arises while a train is crossing near Craig Road.

There is no other road access to the neighborhood between the track and the toll road east of the Lucas County Fairgrounds.

Lauren Hakos, a turnpike spokesman, said Michigan also should reopen in mid-August, although it will have to close again for a few weeks next year when the widened bridge’s steel beams are painted.

A similar closing on Stengel Street is planned for next year. Ms. Hakos said several Perrysburg streets that pass under the turnpike will be closed from mid-August to November for bridge widening.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.