Bridge finally complete

The county plans to rehabilitate the Spring Common Bridge next year.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- "It's been a long time comin'."
The line from the 1969 Crosby, Stills and Nash song, "Long Time Gone," was repeated often during a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the new Marshall Street Bridge on Tuesday.
Plans by the city to rehabilitate or replace the bridge, one of two structures that connects downtown to the West Side over the Mahoning River, began in 1987.
"We hit a few snags along the way, but we got it done," said Carmen S. Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works.
Long process
The city spent years debating whether to rehabilitate or replace the bridge between Oak Hill Avenue and Front Street that crosses over the river and railroad tracks. After city officials decided to replace the bridge, the state approved the idea in 1997.
But historic preservationists halted the project because the bridge was registered as a historic structure with the state for the unique design of its truss.
The city permanently closed the bridge in August 2002 because of significant structural deficiencies, Conglose said. It had been temporarily closed a number of times before that.
After studies conducted by the city showed that replacing instead of repairing the bridge was the best option, the Federal Highway Administration and the Ohio Department of Transportation agreed in May 2004 to allow its demolition, Conglose said.
Work on the 72-year-old bridge began in September 2004, and it was officially opened to traffic Tuesday.
The replacement cost $3.1 million with $1.3 million from a federal highway grant, $1.4 million in federal money obtained by the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, and the rest from the city.
City Finance Director David Bozanich said the bridge "truly acts as a link between the downtown, the lowest West Side and the South Side."
The new bridge will make it easier for those coming from the West Side to downtown, he said.
The bridge closure sometimes caused a bottleneck on Mahoning Avenue for motorists coming downtown from the West Side.
It forced vehicles that normally traveled the Marshall Street Bridge to use the Mahoning County-owned Spring Common Bridge over the river on Mahoning Avenue.
Rehabilitation project
The county plans to rehabilitate Spring Common Bridge beginning in November 2006, said Randy Partika, the county's bridge engineer.
That project, estimated to cost $3 million, includes replacing the bridge's deck and painting the structure, said county Engineer Richard Marsico.
The project will take 1 year to 18 months to complete, and the county will maintain one lane of traffic in each direction during construction, Partika and Marsico said.
Marsico held Conglose's job when the city started discussing what to do with the Marshall Street Bridge.
"That bridge needed to be replaced years ago," he said. "It's too bad it was delayed nearly 20 years. Thankfully it's finally been replaced."
skolnick@vindy.com