The Woody Hayes Drive bridge, along with the bridge, which has no formal name and runs over Olentangy River Road, will see more transformations throughout the year as construction efforts continue on both locations.
The new bridges will be four lanes, replacing the current two lanes on each bridge. The bridge over Olentangy River Road will be heightened to comply with federal highway regulations. The sidewalks on both bridges will be widened from the original 6 feet to 10 feet on both sides to better accommodate pedestrians. Other improvements include upgraded lighting, new utility lines and the addition of an information duct.
In contrast to the construction of the new Lane Avenue bridge, the bridges on Woody Hayes Drive and over Olentangy River Road will be completed in sections to allow the original bridges to remain open to general traffic.
The construction schedule aims to ease the stress on drivers by keeping the old bridges open until the new ones can sustain traffic.
The new Woody Hayes bridge is being built adjacent to the old one to better align the bridge with Woody Hayes Drive.
General traffic across Woody Hayes bridge has since been re-routed across the new bridge as of Dec. 19 to allow for the final demolition of the old bridge this month.
“It’ll make getting back and forth to West campus a lot easier rather than having to take detours just to drive a couple of miles,” said Richard Takanen, a junior in zoology.
The initial phase of the demolition will begin Monday, said project coordinator Mark Hartmann.
“The entire demolition of the bridge will take about a month to a month-and-a-half,”Hartmann said. “We hope by mid-month to have the asbestos out, and then start hammering out the rest of the structure.”
The total construction budget for the Woody Hayes bridge, as well as the one running over Olentangy River Road, is about $8.6 million, with the earliest phases of the project having begun over two years ago in December 2002.
“The project will allow for a straighter alignment of Woody Hayes Drive, smoother flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and provide better sight distance across the bridge than the current structure,” Hartmann said.
The Woody Hayes Drive bridge was originally built in 1922 as one aspect of the Ohio Stadium construction project. Its purpose was to accommodate fans traveling to and from football games, according to the Historical American Engineering Record, a study that is completed before a historical structure is demolished.
The most recent work done on the bridge was in 1983, but it had since deteriorated to such an extent that the entire structure had to be replaced.
The new bridges are set to open to traffic by January 2005.
