The end of the Miami Street bridge replacement project is now just a few months away after a roughly 10-month delay because of unexpected underground cables, a city spokesman said.
Who will pay for most of the $1,134,562 in additional cost incurred because of the project’s delay and redesign, however, remains to be determined.
Janet Schroeder, a spokesman for Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson, said the bridge was about three-quarters finished as of Thursday.
Its abutment and piers were finished, and its deck was poured March 27, Ms. Schroeder said. Still to be done were its approach slabs, side walls, curbs, and driving surface, which she said remain scheduled for completion by June 30.
Reopening will be good news for Oregon resident Gerry Lonsway, who uses Miami to reach I-75, as well as numerous commuters from the Rossford area who go that way to reach the Toledo port area and are stuck with delays on Fassett and Oak streets instead.
“Traffic is still congested in the area of Fassett,” Mr. Lonsway said. “As grain begins to come in, it will be even more of a traffic jam. A readjusted traffic signal at Miami and Fassett could possibly help a bit.”
City officials said shortly after the bridge project began that the green light for Fassett had been lengthened, however, they’ve been reluctant to make any further change even though traffic approaching the intersection on southbound Miami is minimal.
The bridge over Norfolk Southern railroad tracks between Fassett and Navarre Avenue closed early last year for a replacement project that was supposed to have been finished within eight or nine months.
But after the old bridge was torn down, crews digging to build a new pier foundation found railroad cables that weren’t accounted for in construction plans.
Work stopped for months. City officials decided to redesign the bridge with the pier moved, which in turn required fabrication of new bridge beams that weren’t delivered to the construction site until late autumn.
The project was originally contracted at $2.125 million, of which the Ohio Department of Transportation was to pay 80 percent. Ms. Schroeder said ODOT had agreed to pick up $250,000 of the overrun.
“The city and NSRR are in discussions to determine contributions regarding the remaining balance of $884,562,” she said.
Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.
First Published April 10, 2017, 4:00 a.m.