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Bridge work delayed by bad weather
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The bridge is expected to reopen in a week, a city official says.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Marshall Street Bridge, one of the main connectors between the city’s West Side and its downtown, is expected to reopen in a week, a city official says.
The city closed the bridge Nov. 23 for a $550,000 storm-sewer installation project. The work was supposed to take about 30 days.
But cold weather has made it difficult for Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Inc., the Youngstown company hired for the job, to finish the work, said Charles T. Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.
The 42-inch storm sewer is in the ground under the railroad overpass on the end of the bridge near Oak Hill Avenue, and the hole backfilled, Shasho said.
The bridge remains closed waiting for Marucci & Gaffney to pour concrete and make the pavement smooth, Shasho said. The temperature needs to be warmer than its been during the past two weeks to properly pour the concrete, he said.
“It’s not safe now to open up [the roadway] for traffic,” he said.
If the temperature doesn’t get high enough to pour concrete, the city will have Marucci & Gaffney make temporary paving improvements to reopen the bridge by next week, Shasho said.
The storm-sewer project was needed because of major flooding problems that occur on the Oak Hill Avenue side of the bridge, Shasho said. The new storm sewer line allows storm water on that end of the bridge to flow directly into the nearby Mahoning River, he said.
The new line also will lighten the load for the existing 36-inch storm and sanitary line that will now only be for sanitary sewage, Shasho said.
The closing forces vehicles that normally travel on the Marshall Street Bridge to use the Spring Common Bridge on Mahoning Avenue over the river to travel between downtown and the West Side.
The city closed the bridge permanently in August 2002 because of significant structural problems after closing it on a temporary basis a number of times during the previous 15 years, according to Vindicator files.
The city demolished the 72-year-old bridge in September 2004, and had a new one built for $3.1 million. The work on the new bridge began in September 2004 and the structure opened in November 2005.
skolnick@vindy.com