Travelers driving along Interstate 76 will have to wait longer for a rest stop.
How long that wait will be is unknown.
More than three years after work began to renovate the two rest areas in both directions of I-76, east of State Route 14 in Edinburg Township, the project’s end is not yet in sight.
Ray Marsch, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation’s District 4 office in Akron, said via email that the $10 million project is between contractors.
“ODOT and Ohio Facilities Construction Commission are making a significant investment of taxpayer dollars into the Portage County rest areas,” said Marsch. “We expect quality work to be completed on schedule. There were problems with the contractor meeting deadlines for completion. We are proceeding through the process of identifying a replacement contractor.”
The Ohio Facilities Construction Commission oversees capital projects undertaken by state agencies such as ODOT, and state-supported colleges and universities.
In a Dec. 2 letter, OFCC Executive Director Cheryl J. Lyman informed the contractor, GreenHeart Companies, LLC, of Boardman, that its contract to perform the renovations on the two rest areas was being terminated due to incomplete work.