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Joseph B. Kovach, P.E.,P.S.
Huron County Engineer

150 Jefferson Street
Norwalk, OH 44857
(voice)419-668-1997 (fax)419-668-8308
toll free 1-800-862-ENGR

IN AN EMERGENCY, AFTER NORMAL OFFICE HOURS, PLEASE CALL THE HURON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE AT: 419-668-6912














Ridge Road Project

Replacing a century old bridge, immediately south of Norwalk, will mean Ridge Road will be Closed for two months.

Huron County Engineer, Joe Kovach, announced yet another major bridge replacement project as the Ridge Road Bridge replacement project began Wednesday, June 18th.

R&I Construction of Tiffin, Ohio will be responsible for the long awaited bridge replacement project. Located in Norwalk Township, the new bridge is expected to cost just over $400,000.

Located south of the City of Norwalk, on Ridge Road, the construction site is north of South Norwalk Road on Ridge Road. Most Norwalk motorists will recognize the location as being immediately south of Norwood Avenue, or just south of the bridge over the city's route 20 by-pass.

Located on one of the county's busiest roadways, the project has taken months to coordinate according to Kovach." There were loads of utilities that needed to be relocated. In addition, we didn't want to begin the project prior to the end of Norwalk's school year", said the Engineer, noting the project's proximity to the local high school, " yet, we realized the bridge had to be open to traffic before the beginning of Huron County's Fair Week in mid August".

Kovach admitted accomplishing the task will require "significant cooperation from mother nature".

Aside from school traffic and County Fair Traffic, the County Engineer understood, the roadway is one of the primary employee passages into Norwalk from the south, as Norwalk residents traveling to work jobs in Willard and southern Huron County residents motor north to jobs in Norwalk. Each utilize the Ridge Road route going to and from work each day. " We know this bridge project will be an inconvenience," Kovach said," However, we are certain everyone will be pleased with the final effort”.

The County's engineering personnel worked with Jeff Yoder of Poggemeyer Design Group's Bowling Green office to ensure the safety and preservation of the adjacent historic Inter-Urban, stone arch bridge. " The project had some very specific design challenges,” Yoder said. The county selected to incorporate as much of the existing stone arch roadway bridge into the new design as possible. " The design of the new bridge was different from most our usual, tear out everything and rebuild from scratch techniques", Kovach said," but, this was not a one of our usual bridge sites."

"We also wanted to keep our construction footprint as small as possible". The Engineer explained how the project intended to use on of the least destructive construction techniques possible on the job. Kovach indicated the contractor will use "drilled shafts" for the supporting columns of concrete and steel piling." Drilled shafts allow us to eliminate the heavy hammering usually associated with placement of steel piling" Kovach said." The last thing we want to do is to be hammering away on piling and watch the nearby stone arch crumble into a heap of stony rubble".

"The new bridge will be considerably wider, and have a much higher load capacity", Kovach said. " We also wanted to take a bit of the kink out of the roadway". The bridge's new design will also be safer for the motoring public.” Anyone traveling that stretch of roadway in the winter knows what a tight fit it can to pass an oncoming snowplow. A 12 foot wide plow and a six foot wide pick up truck passing on the old structure could make for a memorable moment if one wasn't real careful " with the County Engineer indicating the additional width will go a long way towards making the roadway safer for farm equipment, school busses and snow plows.

Funding for the project comes, in part, via a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission, with the county's bridge building budget pitching in "roughly half of the remaining cost of the project ", according to Kovach.

No stranger to time sensitive projects on busy routes leading into Norwalk, R&I Construction was the lowest of seven bidders on the Ridge Road project. The Tiffin based contractor previously completed a bridge on Washington Road, between Monroeville and Norwalk. The firm has also constructed a new bridge on Terry Road in Peru Township and, an intersection improvement at Snyder and Ridge Roads in Bronson Township and in 2001 R&I was the contractor for the county's railroad overpass on Old State Road in Ripley Township.





We are currently working on :

Troy Mills Road - CLOSED for Bridge Work

Ridge Road - will be closed for 2 months effective June 19, 2008

Peru West Section Line Road - Grading & Seeding Work

Wells Road - Tile Work

Pontiac Section Line Road - Tile Work

Sectioin Line Road 21 -Culvert Work

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