ASHLAND — Crews from Adena on Wednesday poured 140 tons of concrete atop a newly built underground bridge on West Main Street, signifying the first of many final steps in finishing the months-long project that has closed a section of one of Ashland’s busiest streets.
The $998,830 project kicked off in early June, closing West Main Street between Broad and Race streets.
Ashland County Engineer Ed Meixner said Wednesday the project was still under budget, but the project may not wrap until Sept. 19 or 20.
County commissioners hired Adena Corporation in May, and crews have been working there since June 3. Work included taking out the old bridge and installing a new one, all in the public right-of-way. The public right-of-way happens to be West Main Street.
Will this fix flooding?
Meixner said the new culvert that runs under Main Street is wider, which should help alleviate flooding issues. But most flooding occurs on either side of the culvert, on private property.
That’s because the culverts on either end of the bridge are still older and narrower, he said. The wider culvert across Main Street should help a little, though.
“It should work better, but I’m not sure it’s going to be appreciably better,” Meixner said.
He said fixing the flooding that occurs on either side of the bridge would require a “much larger” structure, a project he is unsure will ever occur.
“Once we get off the right-of-way, that’s a city project. I’m not trying to throw it onto the city but — we were trying to deal with the structure here … what happens on the other sides (of Main Street), obviously there are some issues there. And they’ll have to be dealt with at some point,” he said.
Funding
The road is an extension of an Ashland County road that happens to run through the city, requiring the two government entities to partner.
The city, in December 2022, approved a resolution that agreed to provide the county with 15,000 tons of asphalt grindings in return for a funded project.
The county is paying for the project with $436,083 from a combination of American Rescue Plan Act allocation and gas tax funds.
Another $500,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission helped toward the funding.