Construction on the county wine trail is set to resume in the coming weeks.
The County of Essex is replacing the Tom Wright Drain Culvert on County Road 50 because of how badly it was affected by the storms that battered the region last summer.
Allan Botham, director of infrastructure with the county says work started last month but was halted on Apr. 3.
"The contractor started excavating for removal of the existing culvert and found that the soil conditions were such that the area was unsafe for some of the work we were going to do, and it became apparent that we may put an existing hydro pole in jeopardy."
He says County Road 50 remains closed between County Road 13 (Erie Road) and Klies Beach Road with detours in place.
"We recognize that there's a significant number of important businesses and wineries in the area and that those businesses remain open at this time. We are going to move ahead with installing additional signage in the area to help travellers navigate through and around the project area."
He says there is currently no firm completion date for the project.
"The information we provided to the area businesses and residents indicated that the total project time was about 12 weeks to finish and we still feel that's approximately the time it will take, plus the time that the road has been closed now, until we get started again."
Botham says the project team has identified a preferred solution and are preparing to implement it with the support of Hydro One.