Council expected to OK new Marshall Street bridge

The city bought its second piece of property for the arena project.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;By DAVID SKOLNICK & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council was expected to approve an agreement with the state today to replace the Marshall Street bridge in the downtown, closed since August 2002.
Replacing the 71-year-old dilapidated bridge on Marshall Street, between Oak Hill Avenue and Front Street, has been an issue for more than 20 years.
But Carmen Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works, said the city has gotten through the roadblocks that caused delays with replacing the structure.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will open bids May 19 on the bridge replacement, which is estimated to cost $3 million. Construction should start a month later, and a replacement bridge should be open to traffic in about a year, Conglose said.
Project hit a snag
The state approved replacing the bridge in 1997. But historic preservationists halted the project in 2000 because the bridge is registered as a historic structure with the state because of the unique design of its truss, Conglose said.
After a number of studies conducted by the city that showed that replacing instead of repairing the bridge was the best option, the Federal Highway Administration and ODOT agreed to allow its demolition, Conglose said.
"The cost would be the same to rehabilitate the bridge as it would to replace it, but the useful life would be a lot longer if we replace it," he said.
Of the $3 million estimated cost, $1.36 million would come from the state, about $1.4 million would come from the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, using state and federal funds, and the city would come up with $350,000, Conglose said.
The city's board of control gave its approval today to a consent agreement with ODOT to replace the bridge, and council was expected to do the same at its meeting tonight.
Closed in 2002
The city closed the bridge in August 2002 because of significant structural deficiencies, Conglose said.
Concrete barriers were installed to stop vehicular traffic. The bridge closure caused a bottleneck on Mahoning Avenue coming into downtown from the city's West Side. It forced vehicles that normally used the Marshall Street bridge to use the county-owned Spring Common bridge over the Mahoning River on Mahoning Avenue.
Replacing the Marshall Street bridge is important, Conglose said, because it reopens a major link into the southwestern quadrant of the city's downtown, and eases traffic on the Spring Common bridge. Also, the county wants to make major repairs to its bridge, and can't do so until the Marshall Street Bridge is reopened, he said.
Land for convocation center
The board of control also approved the purchase of 0.75 of an acre of property on Front Street that is the site of a former gas station and is owned by Republic Land, for $150,000, to be used for the city's convocation center project.
It is the first property acquisition related to the project since the December 2001 purchase of land between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges, where the convocation center is to be built. The city paid the Alexander family $1.5 million for the 26 acres.
The Republic Land property was appraised at $145,100.
The city is still in negotiations to buy about six to seven acres owned by CSX railroad company, and started an eminent domain process to obtain the former Goodyear building, which is on about one acre.
Those are the only properties the city is interested in obtaining for the convocation center project, said Law Director John McNally IV.
The city signed contracts last month with a developer to build a 5,500-seat, $41 million project.
Repaving contract OK'd
Also at today's meeting, the board of control approved a $1,146,477 contract with Shelly and Sands Inc. of Akron to repave 58 streets in the city. The company was the low bidder for the project by about $37,000, and Shelly's bid was $13,523 less than the engineer's estimate for the job, Conglose said.
The project, which includes streets throughout the city, will begin in about three weeks, and take about 75 days, Conglose said.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;skolnick@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;