ThisWeek UA 2/2/2011
The orange barrels along Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington are coming down earlier than expected – but not because the work has been completed.
American Electric Power (AEP) halted construction on Thursday after citing safety concerns for workers on this section of the Roberts Road to Ohio State University transmission line installation project.
“Motorists were traveling at speeds of 45mph in the 35mph zone,” said Faye White, AEP Ohio spokesperson. White also said that some of the construction equipment was larger than expected, making it difficult to safely operate the equipment with only two lanes of traffic closed.
When asked about AEP’s concerns, Assistant City Manager Joe Valentino said, “I haven’t heard about any speeding incidents. During planning we offered to file the paperwork to reduce the speed limit to 25mph but were told by the contractor it wasn’t necessary.”
Valentino said the plan since July 2009 was for two lanes to be closed and that plan was agreed to by AEP. The city won’t agree to shut down Lane Avenue, he said.
“We’re going to have to have three lanes closed to do the work,” said Vikki Michalski, another AEP Ohio spokesperson. “Anytime we have a safety concern we take a step back and rework the plan.”
The city agrees that safety is important.
Deputy City Manager Emma Speight said the city’s prime concerns are safety, taking care of the residents needs and completing this project on time.
To accomplish those goals Speight said, “Everyone involved has to agree. It could be a couple of weeks to approve new plans and in the meantime Lane Avenue needs to be temporarily restored to full use during the work stoppage.”
Michalski confirmed that AEP will work with the city to return the road to full usage and that any costs associated with these changes will be paid for by the company as a part of the project.
Both Michalski and Speight said that the organizations will continue to work together in good faith to get this project completed.
AEP began work on Monday to revise the project plan but have not provided a new timeline for the Upper Arlington work.
“At this time the plan is to still have the project done on time, with all of the project work completed by the end of year,” said Michalski.
According to project documents the Upper Arlington portion of the cabling project is to be completed by June with the resurfacing of Lane Avenue to complete by late summer.