If you've driven Victory Parkway into Eden Park, you've probably noticed the big bulge in the western retaining wall below the Melan Arch Bridge:

 

 

That's not a great shot of it - I was trying to get a picture while dodging morning traffic (the sidewalk is on the other side of the road there).  I called the Cincinnati Park Board's maintenance number to ask what was up with it, and the guy I talked with said he's been watching it bulge for 15 years now and wondering when it would blow!  He gave me another number for someone in the planning department, so I left her a message, just saying I was curious what the story was with it - I'll post what she says.

I don't want to be near when it blows!

I just got a call back from Lisa in the Parks Planning department, and talked with her for a few minutes. She was very nice and helpful. She said the bulge in that wall is not the most frequently asked question she gets, but it's nearly the most frequent. She said they've been monitoring it for a long time now, and while it does continue to move, it only moves slightly. Next year they're planning to refurbish the Melan Arch Bridge - redoing the approaches and the walkways, coating the bridge and the masonry with something to protect it, just giving it a nice overhaul, and at that time they'll fix the bulge. The wall is dry stacked, meaning it doesn't have masonry holding it in place, so they'll just restack that part.

 

I asked about the stairs on the east side, which are in really poor shape - she said they don't get much use, so while she'd like to fix them up, that's a lower priority - probably a few years away. I asked her what her big priorities were, and she said the Elsinore Steps, a walkway at Inwood Park that needs to be ripped up and replaced (Inwood is the one at Hollister and Vine over near UC) a bunch of asphault work, painting, some signage, and the Melan Arch Bridge replacement.

 

She mentioned the Gazebo restoration project - they're just finishing that up now. I'll try to get a picture of it up in the next few days if I can - she said they were just finishing painting the top of it gold, its original color.

 

Since she said the bulge was nearly her most frequently asked question, I had to ask her - what's the most frequent question? She said it's about the little skate blocks in Friendship Park. Skateboarders were using the park, and their wheels ground something into the stone that is extremely difficult to get out, so they installed little skate blocks all along it. She said most folks think it's an asthetic piece, but it's just to keep the skateboarders out. I don't remember seeing them, so maybe they're a recent install - I'll have to go back and look...

 

Lisa was extremely friendly and helpful - many thanks to her!

^

Mount St. Helens lives...in Cincinnati's melan Arch Bridge!

thats some neat info, hopefully nobody gets hurt by it.

speaking of cincy skateboarders.....has anyone seen some movie about a surfer that moves to cincinnati and starts skateboarding around town? its called airborne http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106233/

 

 

oops i guess its rollerblading...whatever

I've watched that movie a million times and only like it because of it's location. :)

I've seen that movie and it was horrible. Even so, I watched it multiple other times for the same reasons Rich mentioned.

 

RV, thanks for doing the legwork on the bulge. (That doesn't sound right, does it?)

wow, that movie was just on tv :lol: ....i caught the last minute of it, they showed the purple bridge and a single tower covington

I also like how they're supposed to be going down Devils Backbone but I keep seeing KY-8 signs. They're so obviously in Kentucky.

On Sunday, I tried to swing by the upper overlook in Eden Park, and there were car-stopping thingies up by the mini-roundabout.  I thought maybe they were part of the No Cruising stuff they do on Sundays - though that hasn't been a problem for years now, and certainly not in January...but it's still up there now.  I'm wondering if this is preliminary to doing the overhaul of the Melan Arch Bridge...the TM Berry Park retaining wall issue ate up a lot of Park Board funds last year, which is probably why this hasn't happened yet.

 

I'll try to call the park system, but probably won't be able to until Monday...anyone heard anything?

I haven't.

Well, the barriers are down now, and I didn't notice anything exciting and new driving through there, so I guess not...

Folks have probably noticed the cones in the right lane of southbound Eden Park Drive under the Melan Arch Bridge of late - well, I guess they started work on restacking the wall today:

 

 

 

 

Cool!

A couple shots from this morning, about 8:30, with the tarps off and work beginning on Day 2:

 

 

 

 

Here's the operative section of the first shot at full size...I shouldn't have turned off the flash, I guess, but I thought it would be rude to drive slowly past flashing snapshots of the guys working...I know if I were them, I'd be annoyed.  I should have parked and walked over, been nice to them, and gotten some close-ups...maybe tomorrow...

 

In an effort to way, way over-cover this, here's some shots from this evening...I went on a bike ride after work, and there was no tarp on the wall tonight - yay!  As you can see, they've decided to use some mortar as they restack the stones this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...forgot my camera at work, so I had to use the old HP C200 1MP clunky camera...but it worked well enough, I guess...

Is it just an illusion, or is the section still in place bowing outward (in the first pic)?

 

Thanks for the pics, glad they are taking the time to restack the old instead of ripping everything out and throwing up modern retaining wall blocks.

I'm sure it does bow out, but it's either not enough to worry about, or else they'll get to it as we move along...I'm guessing it's the first, though...

Looking at the original pic of the bulge and the following pics, maybe the sides don't bow enough to require being restacked. If the bulge had held there for around 15 years...I don't know...

 

Please grab a pic when its done, for some reason I'm really interested.

 

Took these last night on my way home from work...not great shots, since I was driving and didn't have time to stop and walk back for pictures, but you get the idea.  They did a really nice job...

 

In this shot, the affected area is the section of slightly lighter wall past the bridge on the right:

 

 

You can see the line and arrow on the left side of this image showing where the restacking began:

 

Cool! Looks good, you can hardly tell they were restacked. I see they added some drainage.

yeah that really looks great

I missed posting photos from when they did the east wall, but that's been pulled down and restacked now as well.  Plus they did a big rehab job on the bridge itself - here's a shot from tonight: