Warren County Jail road to be ready for school to start in Lebanon

On Tuesday, the project manager said the road could be ready for traffic on Monday, when teachers are to return in anticipation of the start of classes three days later.

“We will have the road open before school starts,” Jason Worley of Granger Construction said during the commission’s weekly meeting.

About 10 cars were in the school parking lot across Justice Drive from the new jail’s location on Tuesday.

Once the road is finished, the contractor is expected to begin work on the rest of the $57 million project construction, including a new sheriff’s office and new, enlarged jail.

Part of the existing jail is to be razed, with the rest of the sheriff’s office-jail complex to be used by county courts and for programs and low-security inmates.

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Justice Drive, the main road through the Warren County government complex and past the school, was closed to traffic the week of May 27.

In July, Commissioner Dave Young suggested the county penalize Granger for any delay.

On Tuesday, Young and the other commissioners expressed satisfaction with Worley’s commitment.

“Sometimes you have to light a fire under somebody,” Young said after the meeting.

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Trevor Hearn, director, Warren County Department of Facilities Management, credited Granger with working overtime to get the project back on track.

“They’ve worked hard to make up ground,” Hearn said in response to a query from the commissioners.

County Administrator Tiffany Zindel said Granger was not expected to submit a change order for the overtime. The road contract calls for a gross maximum price of just under $1.7 million, including $72,424 for soil stabilization found during preliminary excavation.

Since the road closing, the section of Justice Drive in the government complex off Cook Road and the Ohio 48 bypass has been blocked near the Memorial Drive intersection.

The school and county buildings have been accessible off an entrance on East Avenue.