2012 deadline set for replacement of Jeremiah Morrow Bridge.
Sometime next summer, Ohio’s highest bridge will be blown to bits. Or the northbound half of it, anyway. The state’s tallest span is actually two bridges, and together they make up the picturesque Jeremiah Morrow Bridge that carries both lanes of Interstate 71 high over the Little Miami River valley north of Lebanon.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is spending $88.1 million to replace the two existing bridges with two new ones. The bridges cross the Little Miami River and the Little Miami Scenic Trail, with the highest point 72 metres (239 feet) above ground. The two new bridges that will replace the two old ones will actually be one foot higher.
Jason Haus, a state transportation engineer, said Wednesday the bridge is being replaced for several reasons, including the fact that its 50-year lifespan will be up in 2015, which is also the project’s completion date. Its design is similar to that of the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis that collapsed in 2007, although inspections since then have cleared it as safe.
“The deck on the northbound bridge is in terrible shape,” Haus said. “We’ve re-decked it a couple times. The parapet walls are falling apart on the southbound bridge,” he said. “There are no shoulders. It’s a bottleneck for widening (Interstate) 71.”
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