The planned closure of West First Street between Robert Drive and Red Cross Lane, set for earlier this month but delayed, now is scheduled to begin Thursday, Feb. 28, the Ohio Department of Transportation District 7 office said.

The new date was released Friday afternoon. ODOT officials say the closure is due to contractor reconstruction of the targeted portion of West First Street as part of the Interstate 75 Modernization Project.

The closure, in effect 24 hours a day, will remain shut until September 2017.

The affected area is under and around the I-75 bridge.

The official detour will be Salem Avenue/First Street to Robert Drive to Third Street to Wilkinson to First Street. That means a Salem Avenue driver must go 1.1 miles and take six turns to travel the quarter-mile to the 300 block of West First.