The fire-damaged section of Cincinnati’s southbound Daniel Carter Beard Bridge approach will require “surgical” demolition, but Ohio Department of Transportation officials say repairs should be completed by spring, as long as the materials arrive on time and the winter weather doesn’t. t slow work
The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is a 1,300-foot-long tied arch that carries eight lanes of Interstate 471 over the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Newport, Kentucky. Its original construction was completed in 1976.
The Nov. 1 fire damaged seven steel girders totaling 556 feet in length (three girders side by side along an approach span and four more on a d ‘neighboring approach), as well as 7,600 square feet of bridge deck, ODOT spokeswoman Kathleen Fuller. he told reporters on November 27. The fire warped some of the beams and caused them to detach from the concrete. cover, which was also deformed in parts.
Crews have been working around the clock to survey the damage, plan the demolition and gather all the supplies, equipment and materials that will be needed for the repairs, according to ODOT. The team has already done some work that does not depend on the arrival of new materials, such as removing a damaged signal armature from the bridge.
“In the last three weeks, we’ve accomplished a lot to move this project forward,” Fuller said.
Demolition is scheduled to begin Nov. 29 and is expected to take about three weeks, Fuller said. Because the structural stability of the section was affected, engineers have planned a “very systematic approach” for demolition crews to follow. Damaged material should be removed in small sections. Meanwhile, crews have already installed 10 shoring towers on 65-by-15-foot, 3-foot-thick concrete pads to support the damaged section.
Once the demolition is complete, crews will repair a 70-foot section of parapet wall on the north side, allowing the one closed northbound lane to reopen in late December.
Repairs on the south side will take longer. ODOT and its team, including Hinckley, Ohio-based emergency contractor The Great Lakes Construction Co. and other companies, contacted more than 20 steel fabricators from as far away as California, trying to find one that could deliver custom replacement beams as quickly as possible. Fuller said demand is high right now because of ongoing repair projects in North Carolina and Tennessee after Hurricane Helene, and some suppliers said they may not be able to deliver before next summer. The team chose Stupp Bridge Co. of Bowling Green, Ky., which is expected to deliver the beams in January.
Crews installed 10 shoring towers to support the damaged section of the bridge approach. Photo courtesy ODOTCrews will also repair concrete pier caps and replace bearings and expansion joints, Fuller said. He estimated that this type and scale of project would typically take three years from design to construction in a non-emergency repair situation.
“Everything has to be custom made to make these repairs,” Fuller said.
If all goes according to plan, the bridge could reopen in early March, according to ODOT.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued an emergency declaration, allowing ODOT to seek Federal Emergency Assistance Program funding for the work.
The Cincinnati Fire Department has not yet shared the cause of the fire, which was reported shortly before 3:30 a.m. Nov. 1, but a playground under a riverfront park bridge burned . An ODOT traffic camera captured the flames reaching well above the bridge’s road surface.
The full closure of the south side of the bridge has been a “huge frustration” for people crossing the Ohio River in the area, ODOT Press Secretary Matt Bruning said. Engineers from the Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering and the Kentucky Department of Transportation adjusted the timing of traffic signals at lights on both sides of the river to improve traffic flow during busy commute times to accommodate displaced travelers using other Ohio River crossings during the closure.
