When major road construction happens, what does it mean for emergency crews?

Orange barrels will populate Butler County this construction season, but emergency crews say they can navigate the detours.

The Butler County engineer has almost 80 road construction projects slated for this year, some simple repaving, others major, multi-million dollar jobs. The bulk of the work will be in Liberty and West Chester townships, with the first already underway on Ohio 747 between Princeton and Millikin roads.

The project will widen the road to five lanes, but the Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens said two lanes will be passable at all times, except for a three-day weekend closure for a culvert replacement, which will be announced when dates are determined. Completion should be mid-September.

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Liberty Twp. Fire Chief Ethan Klussman said the department has been in close contact with Wilkens’ office so it will know if it needs to adjust the emergency response plan. The Ohio 747 project, estimated at $7 million, is the biggest in the township, but Klussman isn’t anticipating any major changes on the department’s end.

“Currently, this project will not require us to change our response plan,” Klussman said. “During peak traffic times, we may have a slight increase in our travel times, but overall I don’t anticipate much of an impact to our service delivery.”

Wilkens said his office gives daily reports to the township emergency response agencies when there are projects impacting the roads.

“That’s our standard operating procedure,” Wilkens said. “They know if there are going to be any changes inside the job, if something’s going to be closed, if something is an emergency that we need to close, we make them well aware of that.”

The next big project on Wilkens’ agenda is the new roundabout at Beckett and Smith roads — three new roundabouts will be added this year — in West Chester Twp. The roads will need to close for that project. Roundabouts are also planned for Hamilton Mason Road at LeSourdsville West Chester Road, which straddles the two largest townships, and another in Liberty at Yankee and Millikin roads. Wilkens was a little concerned if the last one was going to make it on this year’s project list because of right-of-way issues, but it appears it will happen this year.

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“Right now it’s looking like everything is going to go,” spokesman Chris Petrocy said.

Klussman said his department is ready for the orange barrels.

“Our ability to provide a timely, effective, and efficient response is paramount,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the construction during each phase. If we encounter any problems, in regards to accessibility, we will modify our response plan. In addition, we have the ability to coordinate responses with our bordering agencies to minimize any possible disruption in services.”

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