The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to close State Road 256 at its Muscatatuck River bridge located 1.92 miles east of State Road 39 near Austin along the Scott-Washington County line.

Contracted crews will be onsite at 7 a.m. today to set barricades and begin making minor repairs in advance of installing a thin bridge deck overlay.

Motorists will be detoured around the closure via Interstate 65 and State Roads 56 and 39.

Ragle Inc. is the state’s contractor for this $300,000, two-bridge project. The Evansville contractor will place a ⅜-inch polymeric overlay atop the Muscatatuck River bridge’s deck — restoring the driving surface, sealing it from weather degradation and ultra violet ray damage. In addition, approaches to the bridge will be milled and repaved.

INDOT officials anticipate State Road 256 reopening to traffic later in the month.

A deck overlay at the State Road 258 White River bridge in Jackson County recently has been completed near Seymour under this contract.