By the numbers
$2.3 million: Estimated total cost of the Veteran's Bridge project, which is expected to begin construction next spring.
$1.7 million: Grant money received for the project from the Federal Highway Administration for the project.
$590,000: Grant money received from the Ohio Public Works Commission for the project.
$4.8 million: Cost of total streetscape improvements from Main Street to McCreight Avenue, including Veteran's Bridge
Unmatched coverage
The Springfield News-Sun provides in-depth coverage of transportation projects in Clark County, including recent stories on the completion of the Bechtle Avenue bridge project and the possibility of a roundabout at Croft Road.
A nearly decade long, $4.8 million project to improve the Fountain Avenue streetscape will be completed next year with the Veteran’s Bridge reconstruction project.
The bridge on Fountain Avenue over Buck Creek will re-use columns from the former Memorial Hall and is the final piece to tie together the redesigned corridor from Main Street to McCreight Avenue.
“It’s a capstone project for our downtown redevelopment along Fountain,” said City Manager Jim Bodenmiller. “We really want this to be a grand entrance.”
The streetscape improvements have included new sidewalks, ornamental street lights, benches and trees, as well as the conversion of one block of Fountain Avenue to two-way traffic.
The first piece of the Fountain Avenue project was completed a decade ago as part of the Core Block’s streetscape project. The Turner Foundation paid for much of that work.
“It’s been a goal that we’ve had for many years,” Bodenmiller said.
Then in 2010, the city completed the next phase of the project with a $1.3 million streetscape renovation on North Fountain Avenue between McCreight Avenue and Veteran’s Bridge using a stimulus grant.
Last year the city spent about $1.2 million in federal dollars to complete a project on North Fountain Avenue between City Hall and the bridge, which included new street lights and the two-way traffic conversion.
Now the $2.3 million Veteran’s Bridge project is expected to begin work next spring and is scheduled to be completed in November 2015. City Commissioners approved last week a contract with Sunesis Construction Co. of West Chester.
“We’re happy to have the bridge tie in to what was done to the north and the south,” City Engineer Leo Shanayda said.
The bridge reconstruction will be paid for mostly through a $1.7 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration municipal bridge fund, according to public documents. The city also received about $590,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission in 2013, which will be used as local match money.
No local dollars will be spent on the project, Shanayda said.
The majority of the streetscape projects were paid for with federal and state dollars, Bodenmiller said, and street repaving made up the majority of the costs.
The bridge will be replaced and new stairs will be constructed leading down to the nearby bike path. Plazas at the northwest and southeast corners of the bridge will also be added, as well as new lighting. A piece of the bike trail will also be replaced.
The bridge will be open only to northbound traffic when construction begins next spring, Shanayda said. Southbound traffic will use Warder Street as part of a detour.
The bridge reconstruction will make it easier and more appealing for Wittenberg University students to walk downtown, said Bill Harless, executive director of the Center City Association.
“It’s going to link the campus to downtown and more of the community,” he said.
It will also serve as a focal point for the downtown as businesses such as Bada Bing! Pizzeria move to Fountain Avenue.
“Downtown Springfield has a wonderful history,” Harless said. “It was a place to go and shop, to do business … and it is actually coming back.”
The bridge is used as part of the large Memorial Day Parade each year, including a wreath-throwing ceremony over Buck Creek. The new bridge will be a point of appreciation for veterans, said Randy Ark, member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
“It’ll show, ‘Boy, these people care about their city,’” he said.
The reuse of the columns at Memorial Hall is also wonderful, Ark said.
“I’ve always wondered what was going to happen to those because like many veterans, I hated to see Memorial Hall go down,” Ark said. “I appreciate it, as a veteran, especially.”
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