Kettering running multiple road projects in same quadrant of city

Two-way traffic will be maintained on both roads, but other routes are suggested in the months before work is targeted to end on Smithville in September and on Forrer later in the fall, he said.

The city has already talked with Amazon in Kettering Business Park about having truck drivers switch their road routines, Sliemers said.

It’s “very likely” that lanes on Forrer and Smithville will be closed simultaneously, he added.

“Especially during peak hours, if drivers could use alternate routes, that’s preferable,” Sliemers said. “That makes it safer for the contractor. It makes it safer for the driver, more efficient for the driver potentially.”

Barrett Paving Inc. was awarded contracts for both jobs. Work to improve Forrer from Woodman Drive to Smithville was originally budgeted at $1.975 million, but the lowest of four base bids was $2.473 million, records show.

Both roads will be resurfaced, but the uncommon scope of the Forrer work was a significant factor its cost, Sliemers said. Replacement of the concrete base on its east end near the Woodman intersection is necessary, he said.

There are “two inches of asphalt on top and nine inches of concrete below and sand below that,” Sliemers said.

“That concrete base has deteriorated so much that just putting asphalt on top no longer made sense because it would (cause) cracks through the asphalt so bad that it just wasn’t financially prudent to keep putting asphalt on top of something that doesn’t have a good foundation anymore,” he added.

The work also includes repairing deteriorated curbs, sidewalks and driveway approaches, city records show.

Smithville’s resurfacing from the Dayton line to Wilmington Pike was initially budgeted at $575,000. But the lowest of two bids came in at about $724,000, Kettering records show.

The Smithville work also includes replacing of deteriorated curbs, sidewalks and drive approaches.

More roadwork

Other ongoing and upcoming Kettering road projects include:

•The widening of County Line Road from three to five lanes from Vale Drive to Dorothy Lane is expected to be completed in July or August, Sliemers said.

The estimated $4 million project started about a year ago, and federal funds are covering about 60% of the project. The remainder is being split by Kettering and Beavercreek, records show.

Both cities say the expansion will help bring jobs to the 1,250-acre Miami Valley Research Park, which straddles both jurisdictions.

•Spaulding Road will be closed starting about July 5 for repaving and bridge work just west of County Line, City Manager Mark Schwieterman said.

“There will be periods of road closures that last up to about five days,” he told city officials earlier this month.

Detours will be posted and questions should be directed to Kettering’s engineering department, Schwieterman said.