Drivers traveling through the 200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Warren on Thursday may have met some minor delays.
The south side of the street was closed while workers performed utility work, reducing traffic to a single lane for most of the day.
Only about a half-dozen cars were stopped on average at any given time while workers regulated traffic flow in the single lane.
Article Photos
Photo by Jacob Perryman
Digging a hole
Traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Warren was limited to a single lane on Thursday and closed entirely during the afternoon as utility work was being done under the street.
Later in the day, the entire block was closed to traffic while work continued across the north side of the street.
"They (workers) had planned on doing some work over three days Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," City of Warren Director of Public Works Mike Holtz said on Thursday. "When they got in there and found what was under there, they said they needed to close the street for a couple of hours, but they could get the whole thing done."
Tom Vavala of Vavala Construction Co., which is performing work at the site, said the street would be closed between 1 and 3 p.m. Thursday.
"We're hoping to re-open it today," Vavala said. "If not, it'll be before lunch tomorrow (Friday)."
According to Holtz, the change in plans presents a mixed bag when it comes to convenience.
"It's a good thing, because they'll be done sooner," Holtz said, "but it's not, since they have to close the whole street."
Vavala and Holtz both indicated the change was due to utility lines not actually being where maps placed them before the project.
Vavala indicated work trenches would be refilled before the street re-opened.
"We'll re-pave the utility hole next week," Holtz said. "The date isn't scheduled yet because we want make sure everyone is finished and out of there first."