I-680 OVERPASSES ODOT to raise bridges to increase clearance

The work is scheduled to get under way in June 2005.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Six bridges over I-680 are to be raised and rehabilitated over a two-year period at a cost of $8.4 million, the Ohio Department of Transportation said.
All of the bridges are to be raised to meet ODOT's current standard, which calls for at least 15 1/2 feet of vertical clearance to accommodate trucks traveling on urban interstate highways, according to Jennifer Richmond, ODOT public information officer.
Although the state's usual height limit for trucks is 13 1/2 feet, permits can be obtained for higher oversize loads, said Edward W. Deley Jr., ODOT environmental coordinator.
ODOT held a public information open house on the project Thursday at the Davis Education and Visitors Center at Mill Creek Park's Fellows Riverside Gardens.
In addition to being raised, the bridges, which were built in the 1960s and 70s, will be redecked, painted and repaired, Richmond said. The bridges' current clearances over I-680 range from 13.84 to 14.8 feet.
The list
Included in the project, which is to begin next June, are bridges on:
UWayne Avenue.
UWellington Avenue.
UGibson Street.
USteel Street.
UShirley Road.
UThe eastbound bridge ramp from I-680 to U.S. Route 62 northbound.
The Steel Street bridge work will be done in two phases with traffic maintained, but the other bridges will be closed and detours will be posted for between 180 and 240 days.
"It's a good time to get it done. They are in bad shape. The sidewalks are deteriorating. The curbs have been deteriorating," said William Bednar of Wellington Avenue.
Overgrown tree branches block the sidewalks on several bridges over I-680, forcing pedestrians into the street, he noted.
Deley said construction crews would remove any overgrown vegetation, but future vegetation trimming is the city's responsibility.
"I think it's a great idea," Lillie Fleming, an East Side resident, who owns property on Wayne Avenue, said of the project. She said the Wayne Avenue bridge has had short-lived repairs and has developed holes in its decking.