Another BRIDGE story

[caglewis]

http://www.wlwt.com/news/24168963/detail.html


Ohio Begins Plans To Replace State's Tallest Bridge
Older Bridge Opened In 1965
Matt Leingang, AP
POSTED: 10:35 am EDT July 7, 2010
UPDATED: 11:40 am EDT July 7, 2010

Construction will begin this month on an $88 million project to replace the tallest bridge in Ohio, an aging structure similar in design to the one that collapsed in Minnesota in 2007, highway officials said Wednesday.

The Jeremiah Morrow Bridge on Interstate 71 near Lebanon in southwest Ohio is considered safe but has enough structural deterioration that it can no longer handle heavy loads. Oversize trucks carrying more than 120,000 pounds, such military or farm equipment, are prohibited.

Ohio began developing plans to replace the bridge around the time the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The project is now on a fast track as the structure reaches the end of its 50-year life span, said Stefan Spinosa, an engineer with the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The bridge is actually a set of twin two-lane spans supported by a steel truss underneath the deck. It opened for traffic in 1965, running a length of 2,224 feet -- about half a mile -- and rising 240 feet over the Little Miami River. It carries about 60,000 vehicles a day, serving as a major freight corridor between Columbus and Cincinnati.

But repairs are becoming more frequent, and a recent inspection said 80 gusset plates, which hold beams together, need to be stiffened before allowing overweight trucks to use the bridge again.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the Minneapolis bridge collapse on an undersize gusset plate, a flaw in its original design from the 1960s. Board members also criticized Minnesota officials for allowing 287 tons of construction materials to be stockpiled on the bridge's center on the day of the collapse.

The new Ohio bridge will be supported by a series of concrete piers, a design chosen because it is more economical than a steel-truss bridge, Spinosa said. Steel is more expensive and requires more maintenance; concrete segmental bridges have a longer life span of 75 years and with proper upkeep can reach 100 years, he said.

The design, which has been used in Europe for 60 years, is becoming more popular in the United States, said Kenneth Price, a vice president with HNTB Corporation, which designed the new bridge in Ohio.

"It's highly durable, safer and a lot better-looking than the ugly old truss that's out there today," Price said.

The new bridge will be completed in about four years. Construction is being staged so that traffic in either direction won't have to be shut down, state project manager Dan Mendel said.

There's enough room between the twin spans on the old bridge - about 70 feet - to erect a new two-lane structure in that space, beginning from the bottom and working up, he said.

Once that is complete, northbound traffic will be switched to the new bridge and the old north bridge will be torn down. In the final phases, a second new structure will be built and the old south bridge will be demolished.

Plans also call for maintaining canoe traffic on the river during the recreation season, as well as keeping open a bike path that runs along the river, Price said.






This bridge [I didn't realize it had a "name"] is the one over the Little Miami River Gorge located on I 71 in the vicinity of Kings Island. It's close to the farm where I grew up, and I well remember the building of I 71 through Warren and Clinton Counties. It took several acres from my father's second farm [acquired through my mother's family]; and building that bridge was the last link on that new highway between Cincinnati and Columbus.
At the time it was the tallest bridge in the whole Interstate Highway system, and a major engineering feat. The view from that bridge is spectacular, and there are signs forbidding drivers to pull over just to "look at the view". The I 77 bridge over the New River Gorge in WV subsequently eclipsed it as the "tallest" Interstate bridge. Talk about "feeling old" [re yet another thread]. The bridge that I remember as " a spectacular engineering accomplishment" is now so old as to be "dangerous" and in need of replacement! I get the message!

[kantuckyII]

Interesting story, thanks for sharing.

I wonder what it would take to get the Ironton-Russell bridge on the fast trak?

[caglewis]

The Brent-Spence Bridge is also aging and in need of replacement - that's the double-decker one in Cincinnati that carries BOTH I 71 and I 75 across the Ohio River to KY and is a major traffic bottleneck. I'd like to see Mitch McConnell and John Boehner stand in the middle of it at rush hour and either propose "non-tax" funding to build a new bridge between their districts or explain why they oppose doing it as "wasteful spending"! Trust me: they will do neither, but yet find a way to claim they did both! I suspect the Ironton-Russell bridge project is caught in that same kind of "political trap".

[kantuckyII]

Noted, one Republican UNITED STATES Senator and one US Representative you mentioned...while ignoring that the Governors...par for the course

[TheMalteseFalcon]

Noted, one Republican UNITED STATES Senator and one US Representative you mentioned...while ignoring that the Governors...par for the course

Besides, I-71 and I-75 are federal highways so Obamy is the one that needs to stand out there.

[kantuckyII]

Noted, one Republican UNITED STATES Senator and one US Representative you mentioned...while ignoring that the Governors...par for the course

Besides, I-71 and I-75 are federal highways so Obamy is the one that needs to stand out there.

[caglewis]

John Boehner is actually the House Minority leader from Cincinnati with a permanent tan, NOT a Senator - but granted both he and Mitch McConnell are professed anti-government Republicans. So who do you want/suggest to build/maintain bridges and highways other than governmental entities at any/all levels, and who else will PAY for them with anything other than "tax money"?

Got your message- I'm so sorry I posted/responded, I should have known better. OOH

[kantuckyII]

Look at it this way..you know those old worn concrete piers under the I-R Bridge? That's the only thing left keeping that big bridge from falling and it's ain't looking good..men like Boehner and McConnell? they are like those piers...the only thing left keeping this nation from falling..

[KVDW]

John Boehner is actually the House Minority leader from Cincinnati with a permanent tan, NOT a Senator - but granted both he and Mitch McConnell are professed anti-government Republicans. So who do you want/suggest to build/maintain bridges and highways other than governmental entities at any/all levels, and who else will PAY for them with anything other than "tax money"?

Got your message- I'm so sorry I posted/responded, I should have known better. OOH

who builds, maintains and pays for bridges,and highways is one thing but to suggest that two of our congress people (regardless of affiliation) stand in the middle of a freeway in rush hour is kinda warped don't cha think ?

i don't think either of those gentlemen are anti-government people (they ARE part of the government) but there are a bunch of dems and repubs on here that are anti-BIG-government just as those two are. there IS a difference ya know.

[orange-n-brown 365]

thanks for sharing I hold my breath every time we travel across that bridge..or any bridge actually..