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Vol. XIV • No. 3
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Beaver Excavating Set to Deliver $114M Findlay Project By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Beaver Excavating Company is scheduled to deliver the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) $114 million Interstate 75 Widening and Reconstruction project in Hancock County through the city of Findlay this year. The project is rebuilding 5.5 mi. of I-75; adding a third lane in each direction; and reconstructing the interchange between U.S. 68/state Route 15 and Interstate 75 (Lima Avenue) and upgrading the roadway to modern highway standards. The project started in March 2017 — see story at constructionequipmentguide.com/firstyear-of-odots-i-75-reconstructioncomes-to-a-close/37404 — and since then, serious progress has been made and with less than one year to go, crews are pushing hard to meet the deadline. The northern portion of I-75 has been rebuilt and the acceptance will be for 3.5 mi. The dogbone design round-about interchange Lima Avenue is open with the new bridge and five of the eight directional ramps finished. Crews finished the left side of the bridge over the Norfolk Southern railroad last fall, which allowed ODOT to switch all of I75 traffic onto the southbound lanes for contra-flow. “In doing so, that will allow us to close the northbound lanes to finish the last two structures of the job — the right side of the railway bridge and a bridge to carry U.S. 68/state Route 15 traffic to I-75 southbound,” said Ryan Bair, project engineer of ODOT District 1,
Ohio Department of Transportation photo
The entire interchange is being redesigned, save for one ramp. Only two remaining structures need to be reconstructed at this point. Ohio Department of Transportation photo
Beaver Excavating Company is scheduled to deliver ODOT’s $114 million Interstate 75 Widening and Reconstruction project.
Lima. “We have a brand new structure that we have not touched yet, and there’s the right side of the railway bridge, due to phasing, that has to be finished.” Other benchmarks that have been met include the completion of a service road for properties along Lima Avenue; the Harrison Street Overhead infrastructure over I-75; and the Blanchard Bridge. Bair was assigned to the project last July, and pointed out that the construction of the Lima Avenue Bridge at the interchange was a challenge because it had multiple crown points and different grade brakes on the structure itself as opposed to a more traditional one crown point structure. “There were two crown points and a valley where the median barrier wall will be poured — it was a challenge for them to set up and be poured,” he said, noting that the cost of the project increased from the original $113.2 million price tag and May 2020 completion date. “We’re on schedule and considering the weather they had last spring and fall, they’ve done pretty well. Thankfully, the Lima Avenue bridge was part of the round-about design because, through phasing and traffic switches, we were able to close the whole new mainline alignment down and the construction was done without having to maintain traffic on that portion. It also made it easier to set beams at night on the left half of rail bridge.” The right half of the existing Lima Avenue bridge was demolished and rebuilt first. Work on the railway bridge was coordinated with the Norfolk Southern railways, and a flagger was on site daily to help with traffic control. see RECONSTRUCTION page 6