Lincoln Consolidated Schools officials are advising parents and students to expect traffic backups on the first day of school Sept. 4 around the campus at 8970 Whittaker Road in Augusta Township as a main route will be out of commission.

Willis Road on the south side of the school's campus has been closed at the bridge over Paint Creek since a $750,000 replacement project began mid-June.

The Washtenaw County Road Commission had planned to have the work completed by the time school was back in session.

However, the road commission has advised the school district that the completion date has been pushed into mid-September and thus, into the school year. The start of the project was delayed a couple weeks due to a sanitary sewer project that had to be completed before work began, said Kelly Jones, project manager.

Thursday, workers poured a new deck on the bridge, Jones said. Final touches to complete the approaches on both sides of the bridge, as well as installing guardrail have yet to be completed.

“We are anticipating heavy traffic backups as one of the major roads is shut down,” according to an email from Vicki Coury, communications and information services supervisor for the district.

District administrators are encouraging students to ride the bus to school instead of getting a ride.

Drivers are advised to follow a detour posted to the campus of Whittaker Road to Textile Road to Stony Creek Road. Railsplitter Drive, the main access road for buses and middle school traffic, will be especially busy, Coury said.

The student drop-off parking lot at Lincoln High School is off of Willis Road. Drivers must turn right onto Willis Road when leaving the parking lot because of the road closure and bridge construction.

There will be an additional deputy from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office around the school’s campus to help direct traffic, to keep cars from dropping off students in the bus loop off of Railsplitter and to keep cars from entering the wrong way into the high school parking lot, Coury said.

• Read a communication from the school district here.

The new bridge will replace the former structure, which was built in 1926. Willis Road has been completely closed at the site for the construction. New bridge beams were delivered Aug. 20.

View Washtenaw County Road Commission work in a larger map

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.