Starting Monday, construction on the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge will close parts of North Water Street, Crain Avenue, North Mantua Street and Fairchild Avenue for up to the next five months.

Fortunately for drivers, the closures on Fairchild Avenue and North Mantua Street (S.R. 43) are only expected to last a few weeks.

The closures are as follows:

• North Water Street will be closed between Brady Street and Crain Avenue.
• Crain Avenue will close just east of North Water Street for about 250 feet.
• Fairchild Avenue will close at the North Mantua Street intersection, as it was last year, but motorists will still have access to the Sheetz gas station.
• The northbound and southbound lanes of North Mantua Street will both be reduced to one lane.

Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the Fairchild Avenue and S.R. 43 closures  "should only last three weeks as we’re finishing up work we didn’t get done on the onset of winter last year."

The bad news is for drivers who rely on Crain Avenue and North Water Street for their daily commutes. Those closures are expected to last until September.

Bowling said the Crain Avenue Bridge will be opened to Lake Street, and Lake Street will be open, but Crain Avenue east of the intersection will be closed. And North Water Street will be closed from south of the intersection with Crain Avenue and Lake Street to Brady Street.

"No traffic’s going to be able to go north and south on Water Street in that block," Bowling said. "That closure should last about five months."

By the end of this summer or early fall the old bridge should be closed and drivers are expected to be using the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge.

The target date for opening the new bridge is Oct. 1.

"That will be a big day," Bowling said.

Click on this link for a previous recap of the project.