В Дефиансе начались подготовительные работы по ремонту улицы Джефферсон

Preparatory work for the repaving of Defiance’s Jefferson Avenue — between Second Street and the Auglaize River bridge — got underway this week. The initial work includes installing new curb ramps at intersections along the above stretch with pavement repairs scheduled to begin at the end of the week, weather permitting, according to Defiance City Engineer Melinda Sprow. “The milling and resurfacing between Second (Street) and the Jefferson Avenue bridge will follow the repairs and be performed, either also at the end of next week or the first part of the following week,” Sprow explained in en email. That work too is weather dependent. The paving will be followed at some point with repairs to the deck of Jefferson’s Auglaize River bridge. This is expected to take 30 days to complete. This will coincide with the reopening of Ottawa Avenue — closed to through traffic all summer for a comprehensive street improvement project — to two-way traffic. Sprow informed The Crescent-News that this reopening date is near Sept. 9. The city’s attempt to repave Jefferson Avenue goes back a few years. Traffic on the street was interrupted for some time as a contractor replaced a waterline there and also rebuilt the sidewalks which were on top of the line and improved storm drainage under the CSX Railroad viaduct. When that project concluded in 2025, the city had hoped to finish things off with Jefferson’s repaving under an Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) contract. Initially, the resurfacing was to extend south of the bridge to Rosewood Avenue. However, the bids came in prohibitively high and the work was postponed. The city then attempted to bid the project out itself in a single contract, but the result was the same. Last fall, ODOT bid the project out again as part of a larger contract, and this time the price was right with a bid awarded to The Shelly Company to get the job done. The city’s share of the repaving cost will be $310,318, but the overall price is part of a larger ODOT resurfacing contract, according to Sprow.