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ODOT prepares local businesses for upcoming Western Reserve bridge closure
NORTH LIMA
Owners and employees expressed concerns, as well as support, when Ohio Department of Transportation representatives Monday distributed information to about 100 businesses along Western Reserve Road in advance of the 75-day bridge closure over Interstate 680.
Work is to begin Monday.
“Any time we’re going to lose business,” it’s a bad thing, said Jim Pugh, who with his wife owns Ely’s To Go, a restaurant at 850 E. Western Reserve Road.
“But we think our customers will find their way around,” he said.
“I have customers that, unsolicited, called and said, ‘Mike, don’t worry,’” said Mike Landgraff, owner of The Bread Chef, located beside Ely’s.
“I think in the long run, it’s just going make it better. ... It’s the cost of progress,” he said.
The bridge closure is part of an $8.9 million project that will replace and widen the bridge over 680, which has an average daily traffic count of 21,800 vehicles. The project also will add a westbound right-turn lane on Western Reserve at the 680-northbound entrance ramp.
There will be various daily lane restrictions on 680 in both directions under Western Reserve Road during the bridge replacement.
The reason for shutting down the bridge, ODOT District 4 spokesman Justin Chesnic told businesses, is that it would take 18 months to two years to replace the bridge while keeping half of it open.
The most-frequent question asked Monday, Chesnic said, was whether interchange ramps would be accessible during the closure. The answer, he says, is yes – all entrance and exit ramps will remain open, but motorists will not be able to cross the bridge.
That’s a concern for some employees at businesses in the area.
“We won’t be able to go home that way,” said Cindy Frankford of Girard, an employee at The Renal Group, located off of Western Reserve Road at 807 Southwestern Run.
“It’ll be fine in the morning, but going home I’ll have to go up to 224,” she said.
The detour ODOT recommends is state Route 7 to state Route 626 to state Route 164.
Business, she said, likely won’t be affected since patients still will need to come in for appointments.
Shelley Genova, owner of La Ti Da Boutique, in the same plaza as The Bread Chef and Ely’s, says she’s been preparing for a drop in business.
“I’ve been concerned about it as long as it’s been on the books,” she said. “I’ve been working with an inventory planner for over a year.”
One response she came up with is a customer-rewards card, which she plans to debut next month.
The bridge is expected to reopen in September.