New Division Street bridge opens

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The new Division Street bridge over the Mahoning River that connects Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the Ohio Works Industrial Park and Salt Springs Road opened Friday.

The three-span concrete-slab bridge, supported by steel beams, replaced a narrower single-span, 1939-vintage steel-truss bridge that closed in February and was demolished because it was rated as structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.

The replacement project cost $1.82 million for construction, with engineering costs adding $300,000 to that figure, to bring the total cost to $2.12 million, the Mahoning County Engineer’s office said.

Randy Partika, county bridge engineer, and a consulting engineer had estimated the total project cost at $2.4 million before the job was advertised for construction.

Eighty percent of the cost was funded with a grant from the federal bridge-replacement program. The city and county agreed to share in the local costs, 10 percent each, for this project.

By using in-house design and Ohio Public Works Commission funding and collaborating with local townships, the office also replaced two single-span steel-beam bridges with pre-stressed box-beam structures within 30 days this fall.

The Garfield Road bridge in Beaver Township opened to traffic Nov. 6 at a cost of $72,000.

The Lexington Road bridge in Smith Township opened to traffic Nov. 20 at a cost of $110,000.