Roads near the closed Dale Station power plant will be closed for a couple hours next week as contractors continue demolishing the facility.

According to East Kentucky Power Cooperative, the intersection of Ford and Ford Hampton roads will be closed for about an hour beginning at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“East Kentucky is taking the station down in sections,” EKPC External Affairs Manager Nick Comer said. “This is a piece of the unit 1 boiler structure.”

The building, he said, was built very close to the roads. The closure comes from an “abundance of caution,” he said.

This will be the first time demolition has required the roads to be closed, and Comer said it may happen again as the demolition progresses. The work is scheduled to be completed by summer, he said.

Construction on the powerhouse began in 1951, but EKPC announced in 2014 it would begin shutting the plant down as it fell behind federal environmental standards. It was closed completely in 2016.

The site covers about 60 acres and EKPC has not announced a future use for the property.

EKPC has already removed the coal ash from the site.