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Division Street bridge replacement contract awarded
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This structurally deficient, 1939 steel-truss bridge that carries Division Street over the Mahoning River will be razed and replaced this year. Its 22-foot-wide roadway is too narrow for the area’s truck traffic, according to the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office.
By Peter H. Milliken
YOUNGSTOWN
If all goes as planned, there will be a new Division Street Bridge in place by the end of the year.
Mahoning County commissioners awarded a $1,588,000 contract Thursday to Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown to demolish and replace the current span over the Mahoning River.
The company must first bore under the river to relocate an 18-inch water-supply pipeline serving the Vallourec Star steel pipe-making complex. The pipeline now crosses the bridge.
Once that is accomplished, the bridge will close for the nine-month demolition and replacement project.
The structurally deficient, 1939 steel-truss bridge is “functionally obsolete” because its 22-foot-wide roadway is too narrow for the area’s truck traffic, said Randy Partika, county bridge engineer.
The new bridge will feature a concrete-slab deck with a 30-foot-wide roadway supported by steel beams.
The company plans to start the pipe relocation Jan. 26, with the bridge closing in early March, Partika said, adding he hopes the new bridge will be open in November.
The bridge connects Vallourec with the Ohio Works Industrial Park.
In other business at the commissioners’ meeting, they proclaimed February as “No One Eats Alone Month” after hearing a presentation from Judge Theresa Dellick of the county’s juvenile court.
The observance includes Feb. 13 as “No One Eats Alone Day” — a day where schools will endeavor not to have students eat lunch alone in their cafeterias in an effort to combat the social isolation that can lead to violence and other anti-social behaviors.
During public comment, Judy Vershum of Canfield said the county violated state law by not conducting a public hearing on the use of potentially toxic brine-treated slag it bought as a de-icer for county roads and by not getting approval from Rick Simmers, the state’s oil and gas division chief, to use this material.
Commissioner David Ditzler told her he believes the county engineer’s office followed the law.
After the meeting, Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the commissioners, said he wants the county to explore its options with regard to backup equipment to keep its 911 emergency dispatching centers functioning in the event of future disruptions, such as the one that occurred this week due to a burst steam pipe at an AT&T Akron switching center.
“We’re going to have to talk to AT&T so we find out what the next steps are, so we make sure that this does not happen again,” said Dennis O’Hara, county emergency management director.