Detouring traffic began using Bob Dye’s street soon after a sewer collapse closed nearby Talmadge Road, but it didn’t really become a problem until last week.

That was when city officials also closed Estero Place — parallel to Talmadge on the south side of Laskey Road — for installation of a temporary pipe along Laskey to bypass the collapsed sewer.

“This used to be a nice, quiet little street that nobody knew about,” said Mr. Dye of the 4800 block of Kathy Lane, which suddenly became part of the shortest route around the Talmadge closing.

Most of the traffic goes between 35 and 40 mph on what’s supposed to be a 25-mph residential street, he said, but every so often someone comes through at much higher speed.

City officials said Tuesday it will probably be until early November before Talmadge reopens.

Talmadge is one of two north-south arteries in West Toledo that are closed south of Laskey. Also blocked is Douglas Road, which closed Aug. 24 for replacement of a culvert over Tifft Ditch, near Lambert Drive.

Originally scheduled for reopening on Thursday, Douglas is expected to stay closed through next week, the city transportation division said Tuesday.

Scott Sibley, who’s the Toledo Division of Engineering Services’ administrator of utilities engineering, said the Tifft Ditch culvert was delayed because crews found underground concrete in two unexpected locations that had to be removed. Both spots appear to be associated with past culverts under Douglas there, he said.

Unlike the work on Douglas, the Talmadge sewer project wasn’t planned.

The 40-year-old, 36-inch sewer main caved in on a Sunday morning, and nearby utilities immediately complicated the city’s response. A gas main had to be moved before crews could even dig to find out what had happened to the sewer 40 feet below the surface.

The failure’s depth, its proximity to a junction with a main along Laskey, and difficult soil conditions all complicated the excavation that followed, Mr. Sibley said.

With the bypass main now in service, crews are filling in the big hole above the collapse site, he said, but another contractor next week will dig two new holes between which it will jack a replacement sewer main underground.

One hole will be in Laskey’s eastbound lane near Talmadge, the other will be on Talmadge south of the collapse site. The new sewer, Mr. Sibley said, will be only 20 feet deep, directly above the previous main, which is being filled in.

Once its construction starts, the new main should take about three weeks to build and connect, according to a city statement. After that, pavement restoration is expected to take one to two weeks before Talmadge reopens.

Eastbound traffic on Laskey is temporarily crossed over onto the westbound left-turn lane at Talmadge, so the impact on Laskey is minimal.

But while the posted detour for Talmadge directs motorists all the way east to Secor Road, residents said there is steady stream of traffic on Ariel Avenue and Kathy Lane.

Mr. Dye said northbound traffic sometimes backs up 20 cars deep on Kathy Lane, waiting to get onto Laskey in the morning.

Cut-through traffic also has been an issue around the Douglas closing.

Mark Avery, who lives on Bowen Road, eagerly awaits the disappearance of motorists who favor his street over the lengthier official Douglas detour, which uses Jackman Road between Laskey and Sylvania Avenue.

“They get going, and they go 50 mph down our little two-lane street,” said Mr. Avery, noting that while Bowen Road has speed bumps north of Grantwood Drive, there are no such obstacles between Grantwood and Sylvania.

But Mr. Sibley noted the culvert project’s end won’t mark the end of construction — or detours — on Douglas.

Starting next month, he said, water-main replacement will restrict Douglas to one-way traffic northbound between Sylvania and Laskey “for most of the winter.”

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

First Published September 16, 2015, 4:00 a.m.