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Market Street bridge work continues through November
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Randy Partika, Mahoning County bridge engineer, left, and Tony Gaglione of B.G. Trucking & Construction of North Lima examine the underlying steel where an expansion joint is being replaced on the Market Street Bridge in Youngstown on Monday. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on the bridge through November.
YOUNGSTOWN
As it undergoes its first major rehabilitation in the 31 years since it opened, work will continue on the Market Street Bridge through November, Mahoning County’s bridge engineer said.
The reduction to one lane in each direction for painting and rehabilitation began July 28 and will continue through November.
The east side of the bridge is closed, but, in mid-October, the work will switch to the west side of the span, said Randy Partika, bridge engineer.
The bridge, which connects Youngstown’s South Side with its downtown, is one of six major spans in the county being painted and rehabilitated by APBN Inc. of Campbell under a $2,026,000 contract.
Eighty percent of the money is from federal surface transportation funds and 20 percent from local revenues from the gasoline tax and license-plate fees.
Painting helps extend bridge life and structural integrity by protecting the structural steel from the elements, county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti said when the commissioners awarded the contract.
On the bridge, which spans the Mahoning River and railroad tracks, the rehabilitation consists of replacing five expansion joints, one at either end of the bridge and three intermediate joints.
Expansion joints allow expansion and contraction of bridge segments as temperatures change.
The work involves removal of the steel joint armor and concrete on each side of each joint and replacement with new steel expansion joints, reinforcing steel and concrete, Partika explained.
The bearings supporting large structural beams below the joints also are being replaced.
The steel support beams under the bridge deck are being painted beneath the expansion joints, and minor beam repairs and minor deck patching also are occurring.
“Expansion-joint areas are more subject to water and weathering and deteriorate at a much-faster rate than other bridge members,” Partika said.
Much of the work is being done beneath the bridge, where scaffolding is visible under each joint, Partika said.
The other bridges included in the APBN contract are the Powers Way bridge over Pine Hollow in Youngstown; the Lowellville Road bridge over Yellow Creek in Struthers; the Mahoning Avenue bridge in Milton Township; the Bedell Road bridge in Berlin Township; and the Lake Park Boulevard bridge in Smith Township.
After a concrete pouring Thursday morning on the Market Street bridge, APBN workers suspended work there to let the concrete solidify and moved to another bridge project, Partika said.
APBN crews are now working on the Bedell Road and Mahoning Avenue bridges, he said.