Building starts on bridge to development

Construction should take about a year.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Construction was to begin today on a new bridge that Mahoning County officials hope will revive an area that was once a national steelmaking hub.
The 364-foot-long bridge will span the Mahoning River, connecting Walton Avenue with an abandoned brownfield site in Campbell known as the Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity.
"The key word there is opportunity," said William DiCicco, director of Castlo Community Improvement Corp.
A groundbreaking ceremony was to mark the onset of construction. Another ceremony will be held when the bridge is finished in about a year, said Joseph Caruso, assistant Mahoning County administrator.
Planned for years
The $4 million project has been years in the planning, said county Commissioner Ed Reese. He said the bridge will be a long-missing link between Youngstown and the 1,400-acre site that was once home to many of the area's steel mills.
"Hopefully this will be like closing one chapter and starting a new one," Reese said. "The steel mills are history and it's time to get past that."
The bridge will begin at the end of Walton Avenue, stretch over the river and some railroad tracks, and end at an unimproved gravel roadway in Campbell. Reese said the bridge will open the area for development and, it's hoped, jobs.
"This area that was once such an industrial hotbed for our area might, with some diversification, be able to be an asset for our community again," he said. Proper marketing will be the key to successful development, Reese said.
The site is along the banks of the river, bordering Youngstown, Struthers and Campbell. Officials have said it was once the third-largest steel producing center in the country.
Unsuccessful attempts
Officials have tried unsuccessfully over the years to develop the property, but always have been hampered by a lack of access. A bridge that once connected the property to Youngstown was torn down years ago. The only way in and out now is a run-down trestle bridge just east of where the new bridge will be, DiCicco said.
"There is just no major access down into that area right now," Caruso said.
DiCicco said representatives of the communities located along the corridor have created a long-range plan aimed at attracting businesses to the site.
An official from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration was to attend today's groundbreaking and deliver a $1.8 million federal grant toward the project.
Other funding is being provided by the Ohio Department of Development, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, Youngstown Community Development Block Grant, Mahoning County commissioners and engineer's offices, and a $50,000 grant received through the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th.
bjackson@vindy.com