New Carlisle continues to suffer from road construction issue

A road construction project in New Carlisle is continuing to turn New Carlisle’s economy, upside down.

For nearly two months now, US 20 at the town’s railroad underpass has been shut down, forcing drivers to take long detours.

 “We have residents that live a half mile from  the fire station and something that should take 2 minutes to respond to is pressed out to 7-10 minutes to get there if not longer, could be delayed by a train,” said Josh Schweizer, New Carlisle’s Fire and EMS Chief.

A part of US 20 that sits under a railroad viaduct in New Carlisle has quickly become the town’s worst enemy.

According to Schweizer, construction crews have worked there since May 1, as part of a larger US 20 replacement project

Chief Schweizer says work was supposed to be complete by the beginning of June but he says delays could last at least another 3 weeks.

In the meantime, emergency response time has increased significantly

 “Emergency services if there’s an emergency situation at that business sitting right there its very impactful for life safety that we can’t go there, if this train is stopped we have to go additional five miles to get around it, 5 miles one way 5 miles another way now travelling almost 20 miles to get a half mile,”
said Schwiezer.