Numerous highway closures scheduled for next week

Karl Baker | The News Journal

Road construction crews filling potholes, clearing trees and building bridges next week will close Delaware roads and ramps on I-95, I-495, U.S. 13 and Barley Mill Road, the Delaware Department of Transportation announced.

It is part of the annual surge of road improvement work that descends on Delaware as temperatures creep upward.

Starting Tuesday, Barley Mill Road will close west of Hoopes Reservoir, between Rolling Mill and Brackenville roads, to allow contractors from Davey Tree Service and Asplundh Tree Experts to remove trees along the narrow, two-lane highway.

The closure will occur daily 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Local residents still will have access to homes during the closure.

Farther south in New Castle County, DelDOT crews will remove trees from the side of the Del. 1 bridge over Blackbird Creek, near Townsend.

The work will require lane and shoulder closures on the primary north-south highway between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.

In nearby Odessa, single lanes on U.S. 13 will close 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday as bridge inspectors from Pennoni Associates examine a span over Drawyers Creek.

Starting Monday, a closure on the southbound I-495 ramp to Edgemoor Road near Wilmington will close 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays until June 23 for pothole fixes.

Del. 141 southbound traffic on Friday, June 9, will shift from using an old bridge over I-95 to a newly-constructed structure, built as part of an $84 million reconstruction of the Del. 141, I-95 interchange.

Crews are replacing two 53-year-old bridges that carry Del. 141 traffic across I-95. The divided roadway is a critical link between Newport and New Castle.

On June 12, the Del. 141 northbound ramp to I-95 northbound will close for most of the summer at the interchange. A rebuilt ramp is scheduled to reopen August 9.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.

STORY: Sparks fly over marijuana legalization

STORY: VIDEO: DelDOT shares when to travel to avoid beach traffic