Akron drivers who use Interstate 77 and the Central Interchange at night will face a week of ramp and highway closures starting Monday, Nov. 2, as work continues to install a pedestrian bridge over I-77, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced in a schedule reported by the Akron Beacon Journal.
The first closure affects the ramp from Archwood Avenue to I-77 north. That ramp will be closed nightly between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning Monday evening, Nov. 2, and continuing through Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation schedule reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. The posted detour is Coventry Street to Wilbeth Avenue to I-77 north.
A second closure runs on the same nights. The ramp from I-77 north to Interstate 76 east and I-76 west will be closed nightly between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning Monday evening, Nov. 2, and continuing through Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, according to the department’s schedule. The detour for that ramp is state Route 8 north to Carroll Street, then Route 8 south to I-76 east and I-76 west.
The largest closure comes later in the week. I-77 and Route 8 north at the Central Interchange will be closed nightly between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. beginning Wednesday evening, Nov. 4, and continuing through Saturday, Nov. 7, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. The posted detour is I-76 east to Arlington Street and Kelly Avenue, then I-76 west.
The closures are tied to the continuing installation of a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 77 in Akron, according to the department’s announcement reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. The work is scheduled overnight, when traffic on the interchange is at its lightest, and each closure lifts by 5 a.m. the following morning.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed is the closure list itself: three separate overnight closures, each with a posted detour, covering the week of Nov. 2 through the morning of Saturday, Nov. 7, per the Ohio Department of Transportation schedule reported by the Akron Beacon Journal. What has not been announced is any daytime closure for the bridge work, and the department’s schedule lists no weekend daytime restrictions. Drivers should still treat the schedule as weather- and work-dependent, as overnight highway work can shift.
For Akron commuters, the practical impact falls on late-evening and overnight trips: workers on second and third shifts, travelers heading to and from Akron-area hospitals, and anyone crossing the Central Interchange after 9 p.m. The Archwood Avenue ramp closure starts earlier, at 7 p.m., which can catch evening traffic that the later closures would miss.
The Central Interchange is the junction where I-77, I-76 and Route 8 come together in Akron, which is why the week’s schedule touches so many movements at once: a neighborhood ramp onto I-77 north at Archwood Avenue, the ramps from I-77 north to both directions of I-76, and the I-77 and Route 8 north mainline itself. A driver whose trip uses none of those three movements is not directly affected, but the posted detours push extra traffic onto Coventry Street, Wilbeth Avenue, Carroll Street, Arlington Street and Kelly Avenue on the affected nights, according to the detour routes in the department’s schedule.
The timing also lands on a busy civic week. The first closures begin Monday evening, Nov. 2, the night before Election Day, after in-person early voting has ended; the mainline closure then runs Wednesday through Saturday mornings, Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, per the Ohio Department of Transportation schedule. None of the announced closures falls during daytime or evening rush hours, and each night’s work ends by 5 a.m.
Ohio drivers elsewhere in the state are dealing with their own weekend work this week. In Columbus, ODOT closed I-70 westbound downtown all weekend for bridge work, and in northwest Ohio, Toledo just closed its 2026 road season with 111 residential streets resurfaced.
What happens next is the work itself: the first ramps close Monday evening, Nov. 2, the mainline I-77 and Route 8 north closure begins Wednesday evening, Nov. 4, and the announced schedule ends Saturday morning, Nov. 7. Drivers crossing Akron at night this week should build the posted detours into their routes and check for any updated schedule before heading out.
Photo: Markkos1992, CC BY-SA