Adviser to be hired for $20M bridge plan

11/4/2013
BLADE STAFF

DEFIANCE — Determining repair or replacement plans for the Clinton Street Bridge will be the task of an engineering consultant the Ohio Department of Transportation expects to hire by April.

A recent annual inspection showed the bridge, which carries State Rts. 15, 18, and 66 over the Maumee River, has deteriorating structural beams, the ODOT district office in Lima, Ohio, reported. Its abutments and piers are in good condition.

The consultant is to advise whether the 1932 bridge, which received a new deck in 1980, should get a new deck again, be overhauled, or replaced. The recommendations are to include whether the bridge should offer more lanes and more bicycle and pedestrian capacity. Finally, the report is to say whether the bridge must be closed during construction or can stay open partially.

“We’re working with officials from the city of Defiance to determine the parameters of the study and to learn what their long-range plans are which would need to be considered in any project undertaken,” Kirk Slusher, ODOT’s district deputy director, said in a statement.

Construction of the estimated $20 million project is tentatively planned in 2019.