“Some little things still need to be done to it, but it’s free to be used,” Shanayda said. “You can drive right under it.”
Shanayda said the bridge reopened in late August, although he isn’t sure about the exact date. The bridge remained open throughout construction, however, traffic was occasionally restricted to one lane in either direction.
“If there was any big problem, no one complained,” Shanayda said.
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While finalized numbers for the project aren’t available yet, Shanayda said the original contract price for the project was around $1.5 million.
All of money for the reconstruction price came from state funding, Shanayda said.
“Ninety-five percent was paid by ODOT [Ohio Department of Transportation] as a part of the Municipal Bridge Fund, and the remaining five percent was paid by the Ohio Public Works Commission,” Shanayda said.
About $1.8 million in grant money was approved by the Springfield City Commission in mid-2017 to fund the project. The funding was awarded as part of the state’s municipal bridge program and the Snyder Park lagoon bridge was the last in the city eligible for funding, Shanayda said.
Shanayda said previously, all other bridges in the city have a sufficiency rating too high to receive funding from the municipal bridge fund.
In 2017, about $1.5 million in money from the Federal Highway Administration and the Ohio Public Works Commission was granted for construction, while $300,000 in other state funds were slated to be used for design costs, Shanayda said.
Additional funding left-over from the project will be returned to the municipal bridge program. Shanayda said.
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The Snyder Park lagoon bridge was one of two major bridge construction projects completed in the last two years. About $1.4 million was spent in 2014 to reconstruct a nearby bridge in Snyder Park over Buck Creek.
The Snyder Park lagoon bridge was previously about 48 feet wide, but has been expanded to about 52 feet, to match the bridge over Buck Creek.
Shanayda said previously the reason for the reconstruction on the Snyder Park lagoon bridge was due to aging, however, the bridge was never unsafe.
According to previous reporting by the Springfield News-Sun, both bridges each see about 18,000 cars per day. That’s expected to increase to more than 22,000 vehicles by 2040, Shanayda said previously.
Over the last 10 years, the city has performed six bridge reconstructions projects including; Veteran’s Bridge, Lowry Avenue bridge, Bechtle Avenue bridge over Buck Creek, Derr Road bridge near Ohio 334, First Street bridge and Sherman Avenue bridge.
$1.5M: Contract price to reconstruct the Bechtle Avenue bridge over the lagoon
18,000: Roughly the average amount of cars that drive over the bridge everyday
58 Years: Age of old bridge
The Springfield News-Sun is committed to covering major infrastructure improvements, such as bridge repairs and road repavings in Springfield and surrounding communities.
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