NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) - The Ohio Department of Transportation is trying to make Fourth of July holiday travel smoother for motorists. 

ODOT District 11 spokesperson Lauren Borell says they are working with contractors to remove lane restrictions in some construction zones this week.

“We just try to be courteous where we can be, especially with resurfacing projects where it might be easier for us to remove a restriction. Some places we have concrete barricades, so it’s difficult for us to remove a restriction so those might stay. Of course, closures will remain closed but we just try to do our due diligence to help folks move through the area,” she says.

She says traveling on I-77 through Tuscarawas County should go better than it has recently.

“In Tuscarawas County, we have I-77 south of the I-77/US 250 split there in New Philadelphia. We will have that restriction removed and two lanes open to traffic north and southbound,” she says.

Work will resume on Monday. ODOT reports it is working on more than 1,000 projects across Ohio, with 90-percent of that targeted toward repairing or replacing existing roads.

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