The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) will begin work early this spring to repair the Lime City Road bridge over Interstate 75 in Rossford.

The bridge was struck and damaged by an over-height load in February 2023. Since then, traffic on the bridge has been maintained in one lane with a temporary signal.

The project was sold as a design-build contract, where a contractor and a design firm develop and submit a single bid. Beaver Excavating, Canton and Parsons Corporation submitted the successful bid of $7.2 million.

The project will remove and replace the existing concrete bridge deck, replace a damaged steel beam that was removed, repair one of the existing beams, add two additional beams to widen the structure on the west (southbound) side to support a future multi-use path, and raise the bridge height by more than 1 ft., from 14 ft. 9 in. to 16 ft. 6 in.

Pat McColley, ODOT District 2 deputy director, said the existing bridge is at legal height, but the project provides an opportunity to raise it to reduce the likelihood of it being struck again.

"The bridge has been struck a number of times — each time by vehicles without a legal permit or that exceeded the height of the permit," he said.

Work is anticipated to begin in March and will initially involve primarily earth work. Traffic on I-75 in the area of the bridge will be restricted, likely beginning in late March or April. Some preliminary work, such as surveying and soil boring, was expected to have no anticipated impact to traffic.

Lime City Road itself is anticipated to close in June for approximately 120 days. The overall project is expected to be completed in 2025.

The design-build contract method will result in the project being completed much faster than is typical.

"Bridge beams require time to design and fabricate and are the critical component in determining the construction schedule," said McColley. "Design-build allows us to get to and through design, onto fabricating, and into construction much faster. Had we proceeded with our normal project bidding method, we would not be going to construction this year," he said.

ODOT anticipates the bridge will be returned to full service approximately a year and a half after it was struck.

ODOT has consulted with the city of Rossford and the Wood County Port Authority in the planning phase of the project.