The Ohio Department of Transportation expects to fully reopen by March 2025 a section of the I-471 Ohio approach to the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge significantly damaged by a fire in November.
[Above photo by Ohio DOT]
Shortly after that fire was extinguished, Ohio DOT executed an emergency contract with Ohio-based Great Lakes Construction to make repairs to fully reopen the bridge linking Cincinnati and Newport, KY; a structure that approximately 100,000 vehicles cross every day.
Thanks to an emergency declaration signed by Governor Mike DeWine (R) last month, the agency said it plans to pursue reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Relief Program to help cover the cost of this bridge repair project.
The agency noted in a statement that the demolition of the damaged section of highway bridge is not a typical demolition. During a standard demolition, crews would simply saw-cut the concrete bridge deck, remove the damaged concrete, then cut the damaged steel beams, and remove them.
However, the fire left several of the bridge’s steel beams deformed; detaching them from the concrete bridge deck. Due to a lack of support, the bridge deck warped; necessitating a 224-page long plan detailing how to carefully offload weight from the warped deck.
Once all the damaged sections of the southbound I-471 bridge have been removed, crews will turn their attention to making repairs to a 70-foot section of the left wall of northbound I-471; a repair that eventually will allow all lanes of northbound I-471 to be reopened.
However, Ohio DOT noted that there is high demand for steel beams and girders due to the historic damage to infrastructure in North Carolina and Tennessee from the remnants of Hurricane Helene back in September; one reason why the rebuild of the fire-damaged section of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge will require several months of work.
The agency pointed out that the cause of the I-471 fire resembles that of two major bridge fires in the U.S. resulting from the storage of flammable materials under bridges; the 2017 Atlanta I-85 bridge fire and the 2023 Los Angeles I-10 bridge fire, which prompted a federal memo to examine what materials were being stored under bridges.
[Editor’s note: The California Department of Transportation recently updated its “Airspace Property Requirements” to forbid such material storage near state highway infrastructure.]
Ohio DOT said its inspectors found items similar to those involved in the I-85 and I-10 fires, such as abandoned semi-truck trailers, construction materials, farm machinery, rental trucks, and encampments of individuals experiencing homelessness with large amounts of flammable items.
Going forward, the agency plans to look for these types of items during annual inspections or maintenance of bridges in Ohio. In the meantime, the Cincinnati Fire Department continues its investigation into how the fire under I-471 started and exactly what burned.
Until the investigation is completed, the agency said it cannot comment on whether any changes to policies and procedures will be needed or made.
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