The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’
Vrooman Road Bridge project moving along, completion ‘about a year away,’ engineer confirms
The Vrooman Road Bridge project continues to steadily move along, with about 23 percent of the overall construction complete, Lake County Engineer Jim Gills confirmed this week.
The project involves the construction of a new high-level bridge on a new alignment over the Grand River, along with the resurfacing of the existing Vrooman Road between the new structure and Interstate 90.
A free-span pedestrian structure, which added $1 million to the project and will be able to accommodate emergency purpose vehicles, is also being constructed.
“We are pleased to be working in partnership with Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 to complete this much-needed project,” Gills said. “This doesn’t entail just a single bridge. As many know, we’ve had a myriad of issues, including late starts, agency delays and running through green space. It’s been Murphy’s Law, but we are moving forward. We’ve worked out a lot of quick problems.”
“It’s been Murphy’s Law, but we are moving forward. We’ve worked out a lot of quick problems.” Lake County Engineer Jim Gills
The main bridge will open in the spring of 2020, Gills detailed, with the overall project slated for completion in the fall of 2020.
Gills said a little over $29 million has been accumulated, including money from ODOT and Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency.
“The county portion of this project is about $7 million, so we’ve done pretty good collecting outside money to make this project happen,” he said.
Of the total $35 million to $36 million cost, $4.2 million has been paid, said Myron Pakush, ODOT District 12’s deputy director.
According to the Engineer’s Office, the purpose of the project is to provide a safe, reliable connection between I-90 and state Route 84 to improve the deficient conditions of the existing roadway and bridge in the area.
Addressing the issue of flooding that regularly closes the road to traffic is also a factor.
Emergencies
Although discussion was held earlier in the project development process related to potential emergency evacuation routes, the connection could be used during an emergency event; however, the project is not being constructed to specifically address any particular crisis, the office confirmed.
The project has two workzone cameras set up taking photos of construction progress every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Alternatives
Gills noted that over many years, and with a great deal of stakeholder involvement, many alternatives were considered for the project.
“These included low-, medium- and high-level bridges along routes that connected to Route 84 at either Madison Avenue or Lane Road,” he said. “Other early ideas discussed included relocating the I-90/Vrooman Road interchange and/or relocating Vrooman Road across land that is owned by Lake Metroparks. An alternative to do nothing, called the ‘No Build Alternative’ had also been considered.”
Based on considerations which include environmental impacts, engineering studies, public and other agency coordination, the preferred alternative was selected.
The Environmental Assessment, including the Alternatives Analysis that describes the evaluation, can be found on the project website: www.buckeyetraffic.org/vroomanroad.
Property impact
A total of about 4.1 acres of privately owned property must be permanently acquired for the project, Gills said. Part of the acreage is one residence, located at the corner of Route 84 and Lane Road.
“The owners of this property will be compensated for the property as well as relocation expenses. In addition, about 3.7 acres of privately owned property will also be needed temporarily to facilitate construction.”
Traffic
According to the office, about 5,910 vehicles per day currently use the existing Vrooman Road in the area. Traffic forecasts prepared by ODOT indicate that the average number of vehicles per day will increase to 6,110 when the bridge is open.
“We have to do a traffic study and follow federal formula to do that study,” Gills said, “and that will determine traffic flow increase.
“Also, the speed limit has been reduced on Vrooman Road to 35 (mph). It will be 35 across the bridge and down into Lane Road.
When we improve Lane Road, we will probably drop the speed limit there.”
Cultural resources impact
The project will impact a portion of an archaeological site that has been determined to be eligible for the National Registry of Historic Places.
Efforts have been made to minimize impacts to those portions of the site within the project limits. Archaeological monitoring by qualified staff will be performed during the construction to recover and record any archaeological material that may be uncovered.
If human remains are discovered during construction, ODOT will notify the federally recognized Native American tribes to determine the disposition of the remains identified.
“We had to get permission from all 27 recognized North American tribes to build this bridge,” Gills said. “They all had to sign off.”
Indian Point Park and Mason’s Landing Park
The project will also require about 3.5 acres of land to be permanently acquired from Indian Point Park, along with about 5.4 acres to be temporarily used during the construction.
To mitigate the impacts to the properties, Lake Metroparks will gain about 2.6 acres of land from where the existing Vrooman Road will be vacated and an additional 14.9 acres of new land will be purchased by the project and turned over to the park system as mitigation for impacts to the park.
Mason’s Landing Park facilities, including the parking lot, canoe access, picnic area and playground will be relocated to the south side of the river, Gills said.
“The existing Vrooman Road Bridge will be replaced with the new pedestrian bridge for access to the trails on the north side of the Grand River.
“Efforts will be made
to keep the park facilities available as much as possible during the construction of this project, although some short-term closures are anticipated. Mason’s Landing Park will only be accessible from Vrooman Road.”
Looking forward
Lake County Commissioner Jerry Cirino recalled the consternation about abandoning the project in favor for a mid-level bridge and going back out for bids, but said the “majority” elected to stick with the plan.
“And here we are, just about a year from traffic going across the new Vrooman Road Bridge versus still being out for bids on some redefined project,” Cirino added.
“Notwithstanding some of the bumps over the last number of years, this is a good project and the community is going to be better off for it — it just needs a little more patience. A year is really not that long and I think we can see the light at the tunnel.”