ThisWeek CW 01/12/2012
Funding has been secured and planning is under way to add bicycle lanes to the Lithopolis-Winchester Road Bridge that crosses the Little Walnut Creek south of Canal Winchester.
Franklin County Bridge Engineer Jim Pajk said that the Ohio Public Works Commission awarded the Franklin County Engineer’s Office $544,500 toward the $2.2-million federally funded project.
Currently, the project is slated to begin in June 2013 after the last day of school.
“The bridge deck needs replaced and some of the piers need corrected in the water,” Pajk said. “The main portion of the project is funded through the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission with federal funds. So 80 percent of the funding is federal but then the local agency is expected to pick up the rest. The OPWC award will offset that local funding requirement.”
According to Pajk, the bridge rehabilitation has been on the Franklin County Engineer’s project list for two years but the span is not yet in a critical state of disrepair.
“The project was originally scheduled for 2012, but after discussions with officials in Canal Winchester, Violet Township and Fairfield County, we found out that there’s another bridge project in Fairfield County and a big street rehabilitation happening this year in Canal Winchester,” Pajk said. “The consensus was that this was too much strain on traffic to do this this year and to help ease the burden on residents we decided to complete this in 2013.”
Pajk said that beyond the rehabilitation of the support piers and the bridge deck, the project would increase the width of the bridge from 32 feet to 40 feet.
“We’re widening the bridge to accommodate bike lanes,” he said. “The additional eight feet will allow for a wide shoulder to be used as bike lanes while maintaining the automobile lanes. And in the future, there is the possibility of adding raised sidewalks, if those are desired.”
Pajk said the timing of the project was strategic.
“We try to impact only one school year,” he said. “We’re going through |the timing of the project now, but we think this is a one-season job, so we’ll start right after school lets out and we think it’ll be between a 90- and 120-day job.”