OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon Traffic will be detoured for 60 days in 2024 and 60 days in 2025 in the overnight hours due to construction on the I-86 bridge.

MAYVILLE – With the construction of the bridge over Chautauqua Lake well underway, traffic will need to be detoured, particularly at night.

With these detours, representatives with the Department of Transportation attended the recent Mayville Village Board meeting to talk about the additional overnight traffic expected in the village.

Officials say a nightly closure of I-86 in a single direction with an offsite detour will be allowed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. for a total of 60 days during each of the 2024 and 2025 construction seasons.

“We’re going to get a whole new bridge deck on it. We’re also going to be repairing steel underneath, replacing the bridge bearings,” said Kelly Shannon with the state DOT.

The DOT wants to keep the bridge open in both directions during the day, but Shannon said there is a need for some temporary overnight closures to be done to deliver material and pour concrete.

Traffic will be detoured around the top part of the lake, which includes the village of Mayville. There have already been days where the traffic has been rerouted.

Village officials thanked the DOT representatives at the meeting for discussing the temporary changes. Mayor Rick Syper asked a sign on Route 430 be adjusted so that it’s not too close to the white line. He also asked for Route 394 to be swept if possible at the end of the season due to additional traffic.

Last summer when the state announced the project, it was estimated to cost $78 million. The project is expected to be wrapped up by November 2025.

In other business, the village board approved the 2024-25 budget. Syper said the approved budget has the same tax rate as he first proposed.

In January Syper submitted a $2.2 million budget for the 2024-2025 year, with a levy of $830,000. The levy is the amount raised by taxes. The levy for 2023-24 was $813,000.

The budget has a tax rate of $6.70, which is about 13 cents higher than the current year’s budget. He said the 13-cent increase is permitted by the state’s 2% tax cap spending.