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NEWS
Weather cited in week's delay of I-64 project
HUNTINGTON -- Weather has prompted a brief delay in a project to widen Interstate 64.
The project, scheduled to start Monday night, will not begin until next week, said Chris Collins, district construction engineer for the state Division of Highways.
The project supervisor cited Monday's rain showers and the anticipation of colder weather, Collins said. Work is now scheduled to begin Monday evening, March 18.
The brief delay should not impact the anticipated completion date of Sept. 28, 2014.
The $18 million project will replace east and westbound bridges crossing Cedar Crest Drive with wider structures, allowing construction crews to immediately link them with three neighboring overpasses that were expanded years ago. The end result will be an estimated four-mile section of freeway, between the 29th Street and Hal Greer Boulevard exits, with three lanes in each direction separated by a concrete barrier.
The project will require a slower speed limit of 50 miles per hour, but state officials do not anticipate major congestion. That's because the contractor is required to maintain two lanes of traffic at all times between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m.
In a related project, the state will pay $5.4 million to replace two bridges at the base of the Hal Greer interchange. They are located at the eastbound off ramp and westbound on ramp.
Follow Curtis Johnson via Twitter @curtisjohnsonHD and http://facebook.com/curtisjohnsonHD.
