With Vevay Hill being closed to all traffic for the next 16 months, motorists coming into and leaving Switzerland County along River Road – State Road 56 – will also have some travel delays.
The Indiana Department of Transportation has announced that Dave O’Mara Contractors will start construction on a “small structure replacement” that will restrict travel on River Road down to one lane.
Traffic signals in the area of the construction – which is approximately three miles west of Vevay on River Road near where the Farmstead Living History Museum – have been erected, and workers expected that the lights will begin flashing a yellow “caution” by the end of this week.
Then, beginning this Monday, April 23rd or shortly thereafter, the traffic lights will be fully operational. This will allow only one way traffic through the construction zone. The traffic lights will be operating 24 hours a day, not just during work hours.
The one way traffic will allow crews to tear out the existing bridge structure and replace it with a large box culvert.
The plan is to restrict traffic to one lane while half of the project is completed; and then traffic will be switched to the completed area while the roadwork is finished on the other side.
Message boards and signs have been put up in the area to notify drivers to use caution when entering the area.
The project is expected to be completed in late July of this year; so motorists need to be cautious and expect minimal delays and lane restrictions for the next three months.