Bridge rehab funding approved

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August 20, 2006

Ken Hart/The Independent The Daily Independent Sun Aug 20, 2006, 11:09 PM EDT

Russell — Ohio has approved funding for major repairs to the Ironton-Russell Bridge.

The state Controlling Board last week allocated $1.56 million for the rehabilitation of the 84-year-old span, which will remain in use several years longer than officials had anticipated.

The project is intended to keep the bridge safe for use by the traveling public until a new one is built to replace it.

According to Kathleen Fuller, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation District 9, the project will include replacement of the bridge’s steel grid floor, retrofitting damaged bearings and connections, debris removal, replacement of damaged rails and various and sundry other repairs.

The contractor hired for the project also will compile a list of spots on the bridge that need to be regularly monitored and inspected, Fuller said.

ODOT hopes to let the contract for the project by next fall, Fuller said. The work is expected to take about 15 months.

The rehab project became necessary after costs for building a new bridge ballooned to about $110 million, about 30 percent more than what the state had earmarked for the project. That prompted ODOT to put the project through a process known as “value engineering” to determine if there were any changes that could be made that would make economically feasible to still build the new span.

Among the recommended changes that came about as a result of the view were reducing the width of the bridge from 48 feet to 32 feet, and utilizing two smaller towers, rather than one 500-foot tower, as originally planned.

Under ODOT’s best-case scenario, construction of the new bridge will not begin until 2010 or 2011. The job is expected to take three construction seasons to complete. Work on the new bridge was originally to have begun by the end of this year.

The right of way chosen for the new bridge won’t change. The new span will still connect with Ohio at Second and Jefferson Streets in downtown Ironton and with Kentucky at the intersection of U.S. 23 and Bellefonte Street, at the top of the Russell viaduct.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

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