Trotwood bridge closed for repair, waterproofing
Project to fix issues with Free Pike Bridge likely to keep the span closed until September.
Traffic on one major Trotwood thoroughfare looks to be tied up for the foreseeable future.
The Free Pike Bridge, which was constructed in 1977, is located approximately 100 feet west of the intersection of East Main Street and Ohio 49 and carries East Main over Dry Run. The bridge gets its names from Main Street’s former name, according to the Montgomery County Engineer’s Office.
“High rainfall had eroded out soil beneath the structure footings and behind the walls at the northeast corner of the bridge,” Montgomery County Engineer Paul Gruner told Dayton Daily News on Friday. “The adjacent ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation)
bridge has also experienced erosion issues which they have addressed.”
In addition, rainfall in the region has been increasing steadily over the last 30 years, he said.
A repair project will fix the existing structural damage and loss of backfill due to scour below the bridge, which has caused pavement settlement, the engineer’s office said. Leaving that unaddressed could result in a deep hole opening up in the road, MCEO said.
Construction during the project
includes the repair and waterproofing of the existing structure, replacement of backfill material and associated roadway work, according to MCEO.
Gruner cited a draft of the Design Build Scope of Services saying that will require excavating portions of roadway and existing fill material behind the damaged forward-left bridge corner and above the entire left side of the structure. It also will require returning and stabilizing the dam
aged county bridge footing and concrete wall to its original position, repairing damaged joints and resealing the exposed top and sides of the county bridge.
Finally, it also will require replacing damaged portions of storm sewer and connections, backfilling excavation, re-paving excavated portions of East Main Street matching existing pavement composition, installing waterway entrance sheet piling and installing waterway rock channel protection.
The engineer’s office will handle the project with a design-build contract, Gruner said.
The engineer’s office plans to advertise the design-build project in the middle of March, with bids due in mid-April, Gruner said. Assuming acceptable bids occur, the contract will then be signed in May, he said.
The contractor’s engineer will then need to develop final plans before most of the construction can begin, Gruner said.
Road closure is scheduled to last four months, he said. A detour will be established along Ohio 49, Wolf Creek Pike, and Olive Road.
The project is anticipated to be completed in September.