Drivers on Ohio 7 in the Stratton area can expect delays as crews prepare to remove the tunnel over the highway adjacent to the W.H. Sammis Power Plant.

STRATTON — Drivers on Ohio 7 in the Stratton area should expect delays, albeit short ones, as crews work on dismantling the tunnel over the highway adjacent to the former W.H. Sammis Power Plant.

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced north- and southbound traffic in that area will be stopped for 15-minute periods three or four times a day between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The work is expected to continue through the summer and result in other temporary lane closures.

The work at the site of the former power plant comes as crews prepare to repair a bridge along the highway just north of Stratton.

Work on the bridge, which extends over Goose Run and the Norfolk Southern Railroad, is expected to be completed in October.

The tunnel’s removal is part of a major remediation project for the site being undertaken by B&B Wrecking and Excavating of Cuyahoga Heights. The property was acquired in 2023 by Energy Transition and Environmental Management of Houston.

The tunnel was created in 1982 to accommodate the addition of pollution-controlling equipment for the plant ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stratton Mayor Paul Zdinak acknowledged the eventual absence of the tunnel will be jarring to the many drivers who regularly travel that section of Ohio 7.

But he said it’s just a part of the major change experienced by Stratton residents as structures are removed from the plant’s site.

“There’s only a handful of people who remember before that power plant was part of our skyline,” said Zdinak.

He said the plant’s closing in 2023 has led the village to adjust its operations in various ways, including raising water and sewer rates to make up for the lost revenue.

Energy Harbor, the plant’s owner, cited as the reason for its closing, a desire to shift from coal-fired power plants to carbon-free nuclear plants more compliant with federal environmental regulations.

The closing resulted in the termination of 140 staff members at the plant.

Completed in 1962, the power plant was opened by Ohio Edison and named for Walter H. Sammis, its president and chief executive officer at the time.