“As it stands now, we expect to be done by Nov. 14, with all the major work that has all the lane closures out there now,” Brandon Collett, the bridge engineer for ODOT District 8, told the council. “There will still be some minor work that needs to occur after that possibly. That will be on the contractor’s dime, and that will be done outside of the peak (rush) hours.”
After Nov. 14, if work is still required, “It should be a lot less harmful to the traffic than it is now,” Collett added.
RELATED: Spooky Nook built a giant sports complex, and the people have come
Closures on the bridge started in early March.
Collett said work will not be performed after Nov 14 between 6 and 9 a.m. or 3 and 6 p.m.
City Manager Joshua Smith asked that ODOT extend the evening non-work hours to 7 p.m. because traffic continues well beyond 6 p.m.
Collett said that shouldn’t be a problem.
If the minor completion touches are not finished by Nov. 30, the contractor will have to suspend work until the spring, Collett said.
Mayor Pat Moeller told Collett: “You’d be surprised how many citizens walk up to me and say, ‘Pat, I saw this going on, on the bridge…. I hear a lot about it. I’m sure the rest of council hears a lot about it, too.”
“The bridge itself was having expansion-joint issues,” which is one of the main reasons the $1.8 million work on the bridge started, Collett said. “The expansion joint on the east side was starting to fall apart, and was going to be replaced.”
Typically when ODOT launches work on one part of a bridge, “we try to not just work on one item at a time, but that was kind-of the driver of what made us do what we call … rehabilitation of the entire bridge.”
To prolong the bridge’s lifespan, crews have put a new surface on its driving deck, which involved a process of removing the bridge’s old “wearing surface” and putting a new concrete surface on it.
“The reason for that is over the years, every 15-20 years, the top of the concrete will get filled with chlorides and salts, which will get down into the (steel) rebar (reinforcing bars), start corroding the bridge, and we’ll end up having to replace the deck a whole lot earlier.”
Knowing the expansion-joint work had to be done, ODOT decided to do the concrete work as well, plus other minor work, including patching of sidewalks and curbs, “which ended up being a lot more extensive than we thought it was going to be initially, which is part of the reason for the extension of the contract.”
The wearing surface now is done, with finishing touches now happening, Collett said. Pavement markings and possible grinding of the bridge deck still remain, “because some of the areas are a little rough-riding.”
About the Author