Scioto County Sheriff David Thoroughman and Portsmouth Police Chief Debby Brewer advise there will be traffic delays in the near future. These delays will be for the movement of super and mega sized loads through the county and city. There will be 35 of these movements beginning sometime in March.

According to Scioto EMA Director Larry Mullins, the loads will be headed to the new Intel plants in Licking County.

The loads will begin movement from Manchester east on U.S. 52 to West Portsmouth. The movement will remain in West Portsmouth overnight then begin the next morning moving west bound in the east bound lanes of U.S. 52 into the city of Portsmouth.

After entering the city, the load will move north in the south bound lanes of U.S. 23, at Bob & Floyd’s Tires, shortly awards they will move into the north bound lanes of U.S. 23. The load will continue on U.S. 23 until they reach the Ohio Department of Transportation garage near Lucasville, where they will park for the night. The following morning the load will continue north on U.S. 23 towards Columbus.

The Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, Portsmouth Police Department, Scioto County EMA, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and ODOT are working together to ensure emergency response needs and traffic delays are planned out to keep delays to the very minimum. However, the delays will be unpreventable and information will be pushed out on the dates of these movements once it is clear on the start dates. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will be providing escort for the super and mega loads.