DEFIANCE — State contractors have begun erecting steel beams for the new Clinton Street Bridge, reaching a major milestone for a project that has cut the city in half since late February.
Bashar Kanouh, the Ohio Department of Transportation’s project engineer, said recent dry weather and weekend work have put construction back on target for a December opening.
“High water the first two months put us really behind,” he said while crews secured the first two sections of a beam at the bridge’s north end.
But with crews from Great Lakes Construction of Hinckley, Ohio working every Saturday, some Sundays, and Independence Day, recent better weather has allowed “a tremendous amount of progress,” Mr. Kanouh said.
VIDEO: Beam placement at Clinton Street Bridge
It will be several more weeks before all 63 beam sections are installed, he said, because the last of four piers in the river is unfinished. But that pier’s concrete cap is slated to be poured Thursday, and after a week for its concrete to cure, it will be ready for beams, he said.
“If there’s no further weather delay,” Mr. Kanouh said, the bridge should be ready for traffic by the first week of December.
Since Feb. 25, when the bridge closed for its $8.3 million replacement, Defiance has been divided by the Maumee River; the closest alternative bridges are on State Rt. 281 east of the city and on the U.S. 24 expressway that bypasses it to the north and west.
ODOT originally proposed replacing the span, which carries State Rts. 15, 18, and 66 over the Maumee, one half at a time over two construction seasons, with one lane of traffic maintained in each direction during the project. But encouraged by city leaders, it changed plans to a one-shot complete removal and replacement, which project planners said could be done in one construction season.
But persistent heavy rain upstream on the Maumee and tributary rivers created high-water conditions that lasted throughout the spring. At times, Mr. Kanouh said, the temporary stone causeways built out into the river from which workers demolished the old bridge and started building the new one were several feet under water instead of several feet above the water, as the causeways were Wednesday.
“The months of June, July, and August have been great,” the ODOT engineer said.
A couple of blocks up Clinton Street at Spanky’s bar, Wednesday afternoon patrons said they were impressed with the workers’ progress, even if the bridge outage was a big headache for their local travels.
“The guys are doing a good job. Hopefully it’ll be complete on time,” said Gwyn Hill, who stopped by for a beer after a morning work shift. “But I just got off work at 1 o’clock, and it took me until 1:30 to get here — that’s not right.”
Steve Pickens, Spanky’s owner, said the bridge’s closing had cut into business “quite a bit,” although the recent creation of a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area in downtown Defiance was helping.
“Now people can get a drink and go see what the guys [bridge builders] have been doing,” he said.
Mr. Pickens said he had heard that the bridge would only have one lane each way when it opens, which he said would break the promise of getting the bridge finished in one construction season.
But Rhonda Pees, a spokesman for ODOT’s district office in Lima, said that was untrue — for precisely the reason Mr. Pickens gave.
Although some elements — including sidewalks and side walls — may remain unfinished before winter arrives, “we intend to open it fully” to four lanes of traffic in December, Ms. Pees said. To do otherwise “would defeat the purpose of closing it completely.”
First Published August 14, 2019, 7:58 p.m.
