Both abutments and all Keowee Street bridge piers are complete, and workers are scheduled to begin setting the 36 beams next week, Gruner said.
“That will be a big step,” he said. “Because when you are still working in the river valley, things can happen: flooding and so forth. But once they get the girders up, it eliminates a lot of the unknowns.”
It’s expected to take about eight days, or two days per span, for crews to place the girders over the Great Miami River on the bridge linking Dayton with Harrison Twp. to the north, according to the engineer’s office.
After the beams go up, the concrete deck will go down, which can generally be completed in winter unless temperatures are extremely cold, Gruner said.
“Depending on how cold it gets, the concrete work can proceed through the winter with proper insulation of the pours,” he said. “So they will be able to get quite a bit done.”
Early on, the Keowee Street bridge project fell weeks behind due to the difficulty of relocating water and gas mains under the Great Miami River. Now more than a third of the way complete, the nearly two-year project should wrap up on schedule next September, Gruner said.
RELATED: Slow start: Keowee Street bridge replacement hurt by weather, utility problems
Another major area bridge project continues over the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton.
Over the weekend, cranes finished lowering girders that will become the new northbound lanes of an $8.8 million renovation of the Main Street bridge by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT).
RELATED: $8.8 million Main Street bridge project to disrupt traffic into fall 2019
ODOT has kept Ohio 48 traffic running one lane in each direction through most weekdays of the project. But weekend and spot closures are anticipated to continue for months as concrete is poured to finish the northbound lanes and demolition begins for reconstruction of southbound lanes, according to ODOT. Completion is expected in the fall of 2019.
ODOT is also in the planning stages of a Huber Heights bridge project.
The agency is currently taking public comment for a $4.2 million lifting of a Chambersburg Road bridge previously hit multiple times by tall vehicles on Ohio 4.
Plans for the Chambersburg Road bridge call for raising the clearance from the roadway about two feet, up to 16 ½ feet to meet code, according to the plan.
The Chambersburg Road bridge project is expected to begin in early 2021 and last about six months, according to ODOT.
Three design alternatives ranging from a bridge of almost identical width to an option more than 20 feet wider are being considered by ODOT, according to project plans.
People who wish to provide ODOT comments on the project’s potential effect on local residents, air quality, economy, and historic or cultural resources should submit them by Oct. 26 to Tricia Bishop at (937) 497-6721 or via email at Tricia.Bishop@dot.ohio.gov.
MORE: County’s $21.6 million bridge project will be its biggest ever
MORE: Artist ‘Bing’ Davis to help design Third Street Bridge
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