WILMINGTON — Motorists (and everyone else) may be wondering why the roadwork that’s part of the huge Rombach Avenue project hasn’t been started — more than two weeks after orange barrels were placed and lanes closed.

Kathleen Fuller, Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 8 Public Information Officer, told the News Journal that the overall project is indeed well underway; it simply will be a little longer before we actually see road contractor John R. Jurgensen Co. trucks and heavy equipment working on the pavement.

She said the utilities work by the Elliot Company out of Miamisburg is continuing; they can be seen daily — for the past several weeks — moving utility poles and lines. Fuller also said some drainage work is being done.

So why have the orange barrels and lane closures been in effect?

It’s a variety of reasons, Fuller said, including the safety of workers going in and out of the closed areas as well as how time-consuming it would be for workers to continually reconfigure and move the barrels each time the work shifts to another area.

And it also gets motorists used to what will be months of lane closures.

Beginning this Monday, contractors are expected to begin water line work east of College Street including working on drainage structures and storm sewers, followed by sidewalk work and then curb ramps, Fuller said, all of which will take several weeks.

“There’ll be a lot more activity,” said Fuller. “People will be seeing more obvious work and crews in different locations.”

Sometime later this we’ll see the milling and filling roadwork, with final paving set for sometime in 2022.