Sylvania bridge work may snarl traffic on U.S. 23

8/5/2017

Repairs to a bridge on northbound U.S. 23 in Sylvania have had minimal impact on traffic so far, but that will change this weekend.

Beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday, the freeway’s northbound right lane will be closed at the Monroe Street exit around the clock until 6 a.m. Thursday while the bridge over the Ottawa River is repaired.

The same lane is scheduled to be closed again from 8 p.m. Aug. 13 until 6 a.m. Aug. 16.

The left lane will be similarly closed for parts of two weeks in September, starting the Sunday night after Labor Day, the Ohio Department of Transportation said.

Archbold-based Miller Brothers Construction has been working on its $1,045,783 contract to repair the bridge since June, but until now its work has required lane closings only at night, along with full-time shoulder closings.

“The existing structure is showing signs of stress on the deck, approach slabs, abutments, and parapet walls,” Rebecca Shirling, ODOT’s district spokesman in Bowling Green, said when work began.

Sections have broken out on the concrete deck while asphalt previously paved over the approach slabs is now peeling away, she said, and the parapets — side walls — are deteriorating.

While not a major rehabilitation, the repairs now under way should extend the bridge’s life “by 25 to 30 years,” Ms. Shirling said.

The parallel bridge for U.S. 23’s southbound lanes underwent similar repair in 2010.

During the upcoming week’s right-lane closing, the approach slab, “sleeper slab,” curb, and guardrail will be repaired or replaced. 

During the second week, the bridge deck’s surface will be blasted off with high-pressure water, then replaced with a concrete overlay.

The same sequence will occur with the left-lane closings next month.

“If it looks like there will be any delays that would delay work for more than a couple hours, they will push the work back a whole week,” Ms. Shirling said. “Otherwise, pending anything disastrous, the closure will not be extended. The work must be completed within the days per plan to reduce the impact on traffic.”

Contact David Patch at dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.