Bridges to show YSU colors

The bridge colors and fence design will incorporate YSU themes.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The refurbished versions of six bridges spanning the Madison Avenue Expressway will make it clear to travelers that they are in Penguin country.
Each of the bridges in the $7.5 million project along the northern edge of the Youngstown State University campus will bear YSU's red and white colors.
Bridge beams will be painted red, and there will be new fencing that features a "Y" design visible from the roads below each bridge.
The bridges are along entryways to the campus, and physically improving them while incorporating YSU themes in their new design is timely in light of the university's upcoming centennial celebration in 2008, a university spokesman said.
The Ohio Department of Transportation launched the project in December, and it is expected to take nearly two years to complete.
The first bridge, Ford Avenue, is expected to be done by mid-June. The Fifth Avenue bridge should be completed by the start of the YSU football season in August.
"This is not your usual, boring bridge project," said Mohamed Darwish, deputy director of ODOT District 4 in Akron.
"This is a project that brings the community together, reflects the culture of the community and tells anyone driving into this area that they are in Youngstown and they are at Youngstown State University."
"My heart goes back to Youngstown State," said Darwish, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from YSU. "It's my alma mater, and I want to do what it takes to make the improvements."
Details of plan
The Elm Street bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic in early spring, but pedestrian traffic will be maintained until the end of spring semester. The Belmont Avenue bridge will not begin construction until the Fifth Avenue bridge is complete. Belmont Avenue will have one lane open in each direction during construction.
The Wick Avenue and Covington Street bridges are scheduled for construction beginning in 2007 and be finished around midyear.
In addition to resurfacing and enhancing the bridges, the project includes new lighting, replacing steel guardrails with textured stone walls, landscaping the entrances to the bridges and improving pedestrian walkways.
Discussions about the bridge improvements date back about four years and have included the input of several institutions on the near North Side area, said Hunter Morrison, director of the YSU Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
"There have been a lot of hours spent looking at this gateway and designing ways to enhance the area within the scope of this ODOT bridge rehab project," said Morrison, who credited Youngstown City Councilman Richard Atkinson for playing a lead role in the process.