There is a lot of road work taking place in the city of Delaware, and some residents are wondering why it couldn’t be completed before the school year began? That’s a good question we are happy to answer.

The Lake Street (U.S. Route 42) paving project is a state resurfacing job managed by ODOT and its contractor; the work taking place at Central Avenue and Euclid is by Columbia Gas, to replace a deteriorated gas line. Neither project is controlled, scheduled or funded by the City of Delaware.

We are in charge of the resurfacing taking place on Heffner, Winter, Cambridge and Blymer streets. We would love to have begun the work earlier in the summer, but paving couldn’t start until the state signed off and released the money to pay for it. That happened in late July and once it did, work was quickly scheduled to begin as early as possible in August. The state calls the shots, because we need state money. Without it, very little paving would take place in Delaware.

The ongoing Central Avenue pavement repair work residents may notice is in advance of the larger repaving project planned by ODOT in 2020 that will resurface Central from The Point to Troy Road. The base repair work by our hard-working Street Division staff began as soon as weather allowed and area asphalt plants opened for seasonal business. We are able to do the work in-house for significantly less cost than if we contracted the work with a private contractor. Why not night work? It is less intrusive, but more expensive. It also presents higher risk to our workers and generally is not possible without a local asphalt plant remaining open overnight.

Road construction is inconvenient, disruptive, and subject to an increasing expectation that it shouldn’t interfere with commuter traffic, school schedules, special events and more. The reality is that projects often overlap and impact us all. We ask that residents be flexible in your travel routes, build in extra time, and above all, remain courteous to those working to improve our streets.

If you want to read more about construction activities, I encourage you to visit the Access Delaware section on our homepage at delawareohio.net.

Lee Yoakum

Community Affairs Coordinator

City of Delaware