Many drivers planning a visit to the Niabi Zoo will have to make a detour starting Monday, April 7, 2014.
Crews are expected to resume work on Monday to replace the U.S. 6 Bridge over Shaffer Creek and the reconstruction of the Niabi Zoo Road intersection.
This on the Niabi Zoo's opening day.
As fresh detour signs are put up along East 3rd Avenue, one Coal Valley resident is concerned her quiet road could soon become congested.
“I wish they wouldn't use this as a detour because there is too much traffic the way it is,” said Betty Colis, who has lived in her Coal Valley home for 60 years.
Betty’s street is always full of activity, especially in the spring and summer months.
“People are always out walking their dogs and kids are riding their bicycles,” Betty said.
She says her biggest frustration is that she didn’t even learn about the detour until Saturday, April 5.
“They just stuck signs up and I didn’t know why they were here,” Betty said.
Just down the road on the intersection of East 3rd Street and Niabi Zoo Road is where Jenna Mannion lives.
“Our yard has been dug up a couple times for different pipes and things they have gone in the ground for,” said Jenna, who says she’s ready for the project to be finished.
But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Crews say they expect the Niabi Zoo Road intersection to be finished by mid-June. The U.S. 6 Bridge over Shaffer Creek is expected to be complete in mid-October.