Pedestrian bridge over I-680 to be razed

By David Skolnick

It should take two weeks for the bridge to be demolished.

YOUNGSTOWN — The deck of a pedestrian bridge, closed by city officials because of criminal activity there, will be demolished beginning next week.

The bridge over Interstate 680 at Elberen Street was closed in April. That happened after a vehicle driving north on I-680 was hit with an object thrown from the bridge.

“We closed it due to safety,” said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works. “There were about five incidents. The bridge isn’t needed, and it presented a hazard.”

The bridge is fenced in, but a hole was intentionally cut, Shasho said. After that, the Ohio Department of Transportation, responsible for the bridge’s upkeep, made temporary repairs.

For the past few days, Dot Diamond Core Drilling of Elyria has been preparing the bridge for demolition. Railing has been removed.

The preparation work should be done shortly with demolition of the bridge to start Nov. 13, said Justin Chesnic, an ODOT spokesman. Demolition will take about two weeks to finish, he said.

“The city has issue with people throwing things on the highway, so we decided to demolish it,” Chesnic said. “It’s not a heavily used bridge.”

There will be lane restrictions during the demolition work, he said.

Also, when the beams that support the bridge, which stretches across I-680, are taken down, there will be temporary delays on the interstate, Chesnic said.

“We’ll stop traffic at night between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for five to 10 minutes at a time to remove the beams,” he said. “That will be a couple of nights.”

The bridge demolition is part of a $4.3 million improvement project by ODOT of I-680 from state Route 11 to Steel Street, he said.

skolnick@vindy.com