The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Looking at state of county spans
Engineers talk about condition of bridges under county control
With bodies of water like Big Creek and the Grand and Chagrin rivers running through Lake County, motorists and pedestrians alike depend on many bridges.
The county’s engineering department is responsible for 304 bridges, roughly one-third of the total amount with the remaining bridges falling under Ohio Department of Transportation, local municipalities and private railroad lines.
“If it’s over a body of water and it’s in (Lake) County then it’s our responsibility,” County Engineer Jim Gills explained the distinction.
Inspections
Gills recently spoke to the general state of the county-controlled bridges.
“The county is not in bad shape at all. Our bridges are decent,” he said. “We have a few that need attention and we give those general maintenance
annually as they wait their turn to be reconstructed or replaced.”
Inspections are grouped into two main categories. The superstructure involves the actual roads and everything above the surface while the substructure involves more of the foundational composition. Aspects within each category are then ranked from a zero to nine grading scale.
“Anything below a 5 is typically not functioning as it was originally intended. That’s when we start entering into deciding if it needs to be load restricted,” explains county Bridge Engineer Kirk Dimmick.
There are currently eight load-restricted bridges in Lake County.
“Just as you’re fixing one, there are others following right afterwards,” Chief Design Engineer Alan Exley said. “We salt our roads to maintain driving conditions. That wears on the bridges. We use less salt due to money constraints, but that doesn’t equate to less problems.” Dimmick agreed. “The northern Ohio bridges tend not to last as long as the southern Ohio bridges due to the salt use,” he said.
Drainage is another big issue for bridge engineers. Controlling where the water goes and making sure it stays out of the components of the bridge is essential throughout the planning and construction phases. Dimmick warned of moisture, “once it gets into the components of the superstructure it can get into the substructure and begin to deteriorate anything.”
Current projects
Currently on the docket is the replacement of the Waite Hill Road bridge.
“It’s a two-span truss bridge with an extended truss life. It’s on its pretty much last legs,” Dimmick said.
In order to ease costs and oversight he explains that they are using a state exchange program that goes after federal funds.
“After we’re approved for that, the state allows some projects to switch over to state funding to assist in reducing some of the federal requirements,” Dimmick said.
They intend to put out construction bids for the Waite Hill Road bridge in 2019 and are currently waiting for an Army Corps of Engineers permit. “The following year we’re looking at doing the Markell Road bridge just south of the Kirtland Country Club,” Dimmick said.
The 140-foot span could be replaced as a truss bridge due to its length and its ability to traverse freely over the river rather than having to add supports into the stream.
The work being done to the Vrooman Road bridge is ongoing.
“We’re in the throes of doing just about everything,” Exley said. “We have steel going up. All the piers are completed. We’re still setting some bearings. We’re getting ready to set the steel girders over the river itself.”
Initially slated for a September 2020 completion, officials say they are still close to that timeline.
“Like any structure, especially a big one where you’re working underground with things that you can’t see, there have been a couple issues with that, but for the most part we’re pretty close,” Dimmick said. The ongoing work done along state Route 2 proves something of an outlier by bringing together Lake County and ODOT staff to further construction.
“Route 2 is owned by the state, but inside the cities, the cities have to maintain it,” Dimmick said.
“We’ve taken over those responsibilities from the cities at a 50/50 cost sharing balance. We’re in charge of maintenance, while ODOT is in charge of reconstruction.”
Dimmick explained the reason for the rare joint responsibility.
“A three-lane facility going through multiple municipalities became very difficult,” he said. “The county being able to maintain it constantly became a big help.”
Budget
When asked if the County Engineer’s Department has enough in their bridge budget, Gills laughs.
“It’s never enough, but you make the best with what you have,” Gills said. “Over the last 18 years, we’ve really been hitting the federal funds hard. We’re very active in pursuing outside funds.”
The federal funds that Gills seeks out operate on an 80/20 cost sharing balance. As he explains, “for 20 percent I can have a new bridge, but I have to get in line.”
The total amount available from the federal funds has increased over recent years but is now spread across a much wider field of applicants, according to Gills.
“There’s only so much to go around,” he said. “We tap those funds as quick as we can.”
With federal funding limitations placed on the length and type of bridge, two-thirds of the county bridges qualify.
“They have to be over 20-foot span to be federal funded,” Dimmick explained.
“Some of the smaller bridges that are less than 20 feet, sometimes we’ll put a few together and go for public works funds,” Gills said. “That can get us up to 50 percent covered to get a 50/50 cost share. This helps stretch our budget.
“Sometimes our biggest constraint is the local budget,” he added. “We have to do roads, too. When we have a bad winter with bad roads, it has a direct effect on our bridge budget.”
The added resources and personnel needed to salt and pave snowbound roads and later patch potholes takes from what could be applied toward the bridge budget. Roads-versus-bridge budgeting is a familiar balancing act for Gills.
“It’s a very large issue every year when we make out the budget.” Ultimately, he says “the priority for the people here are smooth roads.”
Drainage is another big issue for bridge engineers. Controlling where the water goes and making sure it stays out of the components of the bridge is essential throughout the planning and construction phases.