CONNEAUT – Over the course of the last couple of years, the City of Conneaut has been working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to replace the Old Main bridge.
That partnership for the project has dissolved, and the bridge replacement has been halted.
“Council will recall at our last meeting that we were blindsided by a sudden commitment increase by roughly 150 percent on the local side of $650,000, no longer making it financially feasible,” City Manager Nick Sanford said during a regular city council on Monday, Aug. 10. “We did cancel the project, as it were.”
Other improvements connected to the project will be completed.
“The Old Main water line and booster station improvements will continue to be on track in light of our cancellation of the bridge replacement project,” Sanford said.
Ward 3 Councilman Oakey Emery asked where the $650,000 increase in costs came from.
“ODOT presents us with a final estimate and invoice, which I find to be a little unorthodox, as does (City Finance Director John) Williams, but in talking with ODOT, it appears that history with municipalities throughout Ohio has found an accounts receivable issue so they demand that final estimate amount up front,” Sanford said.
On last report to council, the final estimate amount was $434,300.
“Any increase, or delta, when bids come in, is due at that time, by the municipality on their local share,” Sanford said. “The bids came in higher and then the city’s prorated amount was increased by another, I believe, $649,000.”
Emery noted there was no way for the city to anticipate that rise in costs.
“To the state’s credit, to ODOT’s credit, they did earlier anticipate an estimate of $1.1 million,” Sanford said. “It was further reduced, for reasons I don’t really understand, and nobody really could give me an explanation, from $1.1 million to $854,000, and this is local share, mind you, and then, finally, to $434,000, which I questioned at the time, but we had already secured the funding by ordinance with Huntington Bank.”
Going back to Huntington Bank to increase funding is not a possibility.
“It would just be completely unorthodox for the City of Conneaut to go back to Huntington Bank and say, ‘Oh, by the way, could you just bump that up another $650,000?’” Sanford said. “Besides, the debt capacity is just not sensible. We decided, with the consensus and blessing of council, to just terminate the project as it is.”
There are still possibilities for replacing part of the bridge.
“I have asked that MS consultants, in conjunction with the Ashtabula County Engineer’s Office, come and sound the bridge, see if any further recommendations need to be made, whether it needs to have further weight limit reductions, or if it needs to be altogether closed, Number 1, and, Number 2, reassess the scope,” Sanford said. “The first approach to this bridge replacement was for a full replacement of the bridge deck and the foundations. Those sandstone foundations were found to be in excellent shape and if those can be repurposed, similar to a bridge project the county engineer’s office performed on South Ridge Road in Kingsville, of the same nature and design, then I believe that this could really be value engineered for a much better project. More will come on that.”
Emery said the Old Main Bridge, especially when the Route 20 viaduct is closed for improvements, is a valuable asset.
“It’s a shame, being I come from the East side, I grew up over on the east side, that bridge, to me, is a valuable piece to the east side,” Emery said. “Depending on emergencies, it’s a very good piece to have in place. It’s just disconcerting that this happened. Can we go back and readdress it?”
Sanford said that was the very reason for reassessing the scope of the project.
“You raise a really good point, and that’s why I want to reassess the scope, to make sure that there isn’t another opportunity by way of just assessing the deck of the bridge alone,” Sanford said. “That might be able to be viable.”
