STRATTON — While drivers should expect some delays as they approach the tunnel at Ohio 7 north of Stratton, the tunnel itself isn’t expected to be removed for some time.

Bryan Donatelli, project manager for B&B Wrecking and Excavating — the Cuyahoga Heights company involved in removing the W.H. Sammis Power Plant — said crews will be using cranes to remove structures and equipment above the tunnel.

He said during those times, traffic may be stopped for up to 15 minutes a day twice a day, with the two stoppages expected to be separated by 60 to 90 minutes.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has announced the delays may occur between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday but Donatelli stressed, “It won’t be during rush hour traffic.”

“The tunnel itself won’t be removed for some time,” he said, adding it’s possible that won’t occur until next year.

Donatelli said inclement weather, particularly strong winds, could delay the work.

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.

It comes as crews just north of the plant prepare to make repairs to a bridge along the highway extending over Goose Run and the Norfolk-Southern Railroad.

Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Inc. of Youngstown is the contractor for that $4.3 million project, which is expected to be completed in October.

Plans call for north- and southbound traffic to be maintained, though lanes in both directions will be reduced.

Goose Run Road is slated for closure for 45 days, most likely in the spring, according to officials with ODOT.

Energy Harbor, the plant’s former owner, announced its closing in 2023, citing 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 jobs at the plant.

Following the property’s acquisition later that year by Energy Transition and Environmental Management of Houston, B&B Wrecking and Excavating was hired to pursue its remediation.

Donatelli said crews began prep work at the site in fall 2023, with demolitions beginning on Jan. 1, 2024.

He said to date, three of the plant’s seven generators and an electrostatic precipitator, used by the plant for pollution control, have been removed.

Donatelli estimated tens of thousands of tons of scrap metal have been collected from the site.

“Every bit that is coming out of here is being recycled,” he said, while confirming B&B receives proceeds from the scrap’s sale as part of its contract for the project.

With support from the Jefferson County Port Authority, ETEM has applied for a $2.5 million grant, while pledging a 25 percent match, for the project through the Ohio Department of Development’s Brownfield Remediation Program.

It secured $422,500 from the program earlier for asbestos abatement at the site.

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

Construction of its Unit 6 stator, a generator with a capacity of 625 megawatts, earned the plant the cover story for the March 1967 issue of Forbes magazine. The Unit 7 stator, with a capacity of 650 megawatts, was added in 1971.