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Vol. XVIIII • No. 5
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
Your Ohio Connection: Ed Bryden, Strongsville, OH • 1-800-810-7640
Utility Work Marks Phase I of ODOT’s $84M I-76 Project
By Irwin Rapoport
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Shelly & Sands (S&S) started work on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) $84 million Main/Broadway interchange improvement project, a major urban renewal project for Akron, in June 2016, and the project is set for completion in July 2020. The plan, developed by ODOT and the city of Akron, improves safety and will reduce the number of crashes, replace aging infrastructure and provide roads that meet current design standards. The work entails the reconfiguration of the I-76/77 Main/Broadway interchange ramps; relocation and modifying of sections of several side streets; and the permanent closure of the I-76/77 Grant Street/Wolf Ledges Parkway interchange ramps. The work area covers one mile of I-76, one mile of Main and Broadway and 11 bridges. “The Grant St. and Wolf Ledges exit and entrance ramps will be permanently closed,” said Lorie Feudner, P.E. ODOT District 4 traffic studies engineer. “Upon completion, all traffic will exit at the Main/Broadway interchange creating a single point of access to downtown Akron along I-76.” The majority of highway components are between 40 and 50 years old, facilitating the replacement of nine bridges and complete pavement replacement on I-76 between Princeton St. and Sumner St. pedestrian bridge. The new infrastructure was designed by AECOMM . “The contractor may use any portion of the project right-of-way for staging, equipment storage, or
Shelly & Sands (S&S) started work on the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) $84 million Main/Broadway interchange improvement project, a major urban renewal project for Akron, in June 2016, and the project is set for completion in July 2020.
an office site with the approval of the engineer,” said Jason Young, P.E. ODOT District 4 construction engineer. “This project takes place in an urban environment and to minimize any adverse construction noise impacts, the contractor is restricted from operating construc-
tion equipment between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on city streets.” The work site encompasses four neighborhoods: the downtown area, south Akron, Summit Lake and University Park. Pete Kinzer, Shelly & Sands
project manager, said that the work is divided into four phases — Phase 1, the S. Main/S. Broadway section and three bridges to be completed in late fall 2017; Phases 2 and 3, I-76 EB/WB, including and eight bridges to be completed in 2018 and 2019; and Phase 4,
final surface pavements to be completed by July 2020. While some minor work has been done on I-76, the Phase 1 work has crews focusing on underground infrastructure installation with a new 66-in. (167.6 cm) diameter sanitary sewer pipe with bypass pumping that is 20 ft. (6 m) deep, and new waterlines. “We’re doing this while avoiding existing utilities,” said Kinzer. “We’re also doing some excavation work. We demolished Wolf Ledges Parkway Bridge that spans I-76. It took us a month to do that, removing the deck at night with some temporary rolling road closures at 15 to 20 minute intervals and dealing with the abutments during the day. The bridge crosses the interstate on an angle, but it is similar to the nearby Grant Street bridge, which is also being rebuilt,” said Kinzer, “We hope to set beams on Wolf Ledges and finish it in early April and complete the Grant Street bridge in October.” S. Main and S. Broadway range from three to five lanes in each direction as some lanes link to I-76 ramps. “We’re changing the alignment of south S. Broadway and S. Main, which will be combined and merge at a single point at the south end of the project so that the road is more efficient,” said Kinzer. “We’re also building a roundabout near this area. Motorists, so far, are being very cooperative in the work zone.” There has been a fair amount of night work thus far. “We had to do some temporary widening with concrete to strengthen the shoulders on 1-76 see ODOT page 2