It’s back to the drawing board for the new Ohio River bridge between Russell and Ironton. That’s the best way of assuring that this long-discussed span is actually constructed in the foreseeable future.
Plans for the new bridge to replace the 1922 span connecting the downtowns of Russell and Ironton came to a screeching halt in January when the lowest of three bids submitted to construct it was just under $110 million, or more than $10 million higher than the cost projected by the Ohio Department of Transportation — a cost that, by the way, had increased by more than $30 million from the original estimate.
After opening the bid, it didn’t take long for ODOT officials to say: No way! They put the bridge project on the proverbial back burner.
Now, ODOT has announced plans to redesign the bridge in an effort to significantly reduce its price tag. While that will make it at least two years before construction of the bridge could actually begin, it is pretty clear that the bridge as originally planned would never be built.
The most significant change the new design will include is to reduce the width of the bridge from 48 feet to 32 feet. That still would be considerably wider than the existing span and certainly wide enough for a bridge that we think mainly will handle local traffic between the two communities.
The bridge still will connect Third Street in downtown Ironton with U.S. 23 in Russell, bypassing downtown Russell. Since the right of way for that route already has been purchased, there is no chance that the redesign will reopen the debate over just where the bridge will go. To its credit, ODOT proposed at least four different possible routes and conducted public hearings in both Ironton and Russell before the final route was determined.
ODOT says the old, narrow bridge that ends with a sharp curve at both ends is badly in need of replacement and most residents of the two cities probably agree. In fact, the two peregrine falcons that have made the bridge their summer home in recent years may be the only living creatures to be upset when the old bridge finally is demolished.
