Road near Ford closed today

BATH TOWNSHIP — Don't be alarmed if you see a bunch of helicopters flying over Lima today and hovering above the Ford Lima Engine Plant.County officials are closing Bible Road between Sugar Street and Neubrecht Road from dawn to dusk, helping to facilitate a massive equipment-moving operation at the plant. County officials and Ford originally were looking at closing parts of Sugar Street, too.“The helicopter will be carrying equipment, lifting it off trucks, and they don't want the traffic,” Allen County Roadway Engineer David Louth said.A helicopter will move dozens of large pieces of heating and cooling equipment from trucks on the road to the roof of the plant. In all, the helicopter will do more than 100 lifts.The work and materials are for upgrades to the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system to improve air flow in the plant. Work on the system will continue through the week.The Allen County Sheriff's Office and Allen County Engineer's Office are working together on the road closure, a rarity for anything other than road construction. The work will be done today because no one can be in the plant when the work is happening.The work is all happening on the plant's exterior and unrelated to plans Ford has to add a new engine line at the plant. Ford plans a new engine line for the Lima plant, which employs 800 hourly and 150 salary employees. Officials have confirmed the new line, but have said details of the a new, smaller V-6 engine line will be made available at a later date. The new engine was first confirmed last year during contract negotiations between Ford and the United Auto Workers union.