Division Street Bridge slated for replacement

By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The most striking thing standing under the Division Street Expressway isn't the extensive layers of rust covering the green beams.
It's not all the rusted metal bars showing through the crumbling concrete deck or supports, either.
It's the silence.
There's no noise overhead from big trucks lumbering across the span or cars speeding through.
The highway also known as state Route 711, which is made up of a series of bridges, will remain quiet through the end of next year, too.
The Ohio Department of Transportation and the city agree that the highway -- closed in June because of serious structural problems -- should remain idle until a previously planned replacement project starts in the spring.
"Ultimately, I think the right decision was made," said Carmen Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works.
Part of project
The expressway is part of the 711 Connector project, the first phase of which is under construction. The project totaling $70 million will link the state Route 11-Interstate 80 intersection to U.S. Route 422 and Interstate 680 by fall 2005.
Replacing the Division Street section is part of the project's second phase.
Bracing underneath one of the bridges broke free in June and dangled over some railroad tracks, a state inspection consultant's report said.
Later inspections showed other structural parts failing and that large sections of the highway were in danger of collapse.
The report recommend against making repairs. Repairs would be hard to do and too costly just to keep the span open until March, the report said. That's when the replacement project is to start. Repairs alone would take several months, the report said.
There was a chance ODOT might speed up the replacement project, but cost interfered.
The state inspection consultant suggested that ODOT could have the structure demolished earlier than planned, speeding reconstruction.
The city even expedited three contracts with railroads in July for ODOT so the project could move faster. Conglose hoped ODOT would accelerate the project to minimize inconvenience to drivers and businesses.
Schedule will stay
Moving up the project timeline would have been too expensive, however, so the schedule won't change, said Paula Putnam, an ODOT District 4 spokeswoman.
ODOT wants to reopen roads as soon as possible and gives contractors incentives to work fast, she said.
ODOT, however, already has contracts with some companies on the 711 Connector's second phase. Revising those contracts would have cost too much just to move the project up a couple months, Putnam said.
"It's a big job," she said.
The second phase will go to bid next month as planned. ODOT expects to award a contract at the end of November. Work would start in March, depending on weather, and finish in fall 2005.
Weather has been a factor on the 711 Connector project, Putnam said.
Contractors lost 42 days of work since spring because of weather problems, she said. ODOT must extend its contracts when weather delays contractors.
Crews have done most of the preparation work for a segment of the project that will extend Gypsy Lane to U.S. Route 422, Putnam said. Drivers could start traveling on that road by the end of summer, she said.
That's the only segment of the project scheduled to open early to drivers, she said.
rgsmith@vindy.com