Posted August 30, 200618 yr Looks like WTAM beat the other news outfits on this one. I can't wait to see the final designs on this. It should pretty nice. HEY! ODOT! This is the way to keep the public involved in a project. (even if it is going to result in the taking of portions of some residents property) http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=122520&article=513572 Fulton Road Bridge Bid Is Under Estimate Demolition of 74-year-old span will commence this winter. $45.8 million. That's the apparent low-bid for the Fulton Road Bridge contract in Cleveland. That's about 3% below the ODOT estimate of $47.6 million. Bids were opened Wednesday morning from contractors who wanted to tear down the old bridge over the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and build a new one. Click here (http://www.fultonbridgereplacement.com/)for more information about the Fulton Road Bridge project. Notice: The Fulton Road Bridge website has not been updated in quite some time - but it does have nice renderings. In July, i took some photos of the crumbly bridge which you can see here: http://dashboardcamera.blogspot.com/2006/07/fulton-road-bridge.html
August 30, 200618 yr Wow, a very cool project judging by the renderings. Please keep us informed! BTW, when was the bridge built and has it suffered deterioration for long?
August 30, 200618 yr ^^ :-D http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=122520&article=513572 Fulton Road Bridge Bid Is Under Estimate The Fulton Road Bridge was... built in 1932, and has been crumbling for years. There is even a protective cover over the zoo pedestrian paths. Two lanes of the bridge have been closed to traffic since March of 2004 due to structural issues.
August 30, 200618 yr I thought it was a pretty good joke. I thought it was a pretty good joke. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
September 26, 200618 yr Holy crap... they're going to blow that thing up. I think there are some animals that are not going to be to happy with that. No wonder this firm's bid was the lowest. Implosion is likely much less expensive then dismantling. Or is it? From WTAM: Fulton Road Bridge To Close Next Week Three year project will include implosion of the old span. The Fulton road bridge over the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will close for demolition and reconstruction for about three years on October 5. Fulton Road between Denison Avenue and Park Drive must be closed for the complete replacement of the bridge. Motorists will be detoured to Denison Avenue east to Pearl Road south to Memphis Avenue west to Fulton Parkway north. ODOT Spokeswoman Lora Hummer says the entrance to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo from Fulton Parkway will remain open.http://wtam.com/pages/news/Hummer.mp3(mp3) Crews will implode the bridge in late December or early January and then build a new bridge in its place. Hummer says the design for the reconstruction of the Fulton Road Bridge has been a collaborative effort between the Cuyahoga County Engineer, the city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, FHWA and ODOT. The new bridge is expected to be completed and open during the summer of 2006. (edit) I think that is supposed to read 2009, not 2006... unless they can go back in time - which would be pretty cool.
September 26, 200618 yr I think that is supposed to read 2009, not 2006... unless they can go back in time - which would be pretty cool. That would certainly impact area businesses much less! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 7, 200618 yr From the Brooklyn Sun - thanks once again, KJP: Fulton bridge is falling down Nearby fire station reopens because of span's closure Thursday, October 05, 2006 By Ken Prendergast Brooklyn Sun Journal CLEVELAND _ There's good news and bad news arriving with the closing today of the Fulton Road bridge. The 74-year-old arched concrete span over the Big Creek valley and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will be replaced with a nearly identical bridge during the next 21/2 years. The bad news, of course, is the bridge's closing, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today and end in the summer of 2009. Detours will either divert traffic away from some businesses or bring too much past others, especially on Pearl or Ridge roads. Downtown-bound commuters likely will face a crush of traffic on detour routes, especially Pearl. My question is: Why has nobody updated the website?!? The last update was in 2004.
February 16, 200718 yr Here's some images and renderings of the bridge and the trail that will be built under it... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 16, 200718 yr Thanks KJP. Earlier on there was talk about having the name of the zooo etched into the sides of the bridge, did they value engineer that out? I can make out the light poles on the bridge, but what are the smaller poles? Have you, or anyone, heard when the rescheduled (post-asbestos removal) demolition will be set? And finally, and most importantly, what is the guy in the bottom picture looking at?
February 16, 200718 yr Hadn't heard a peep about the zoo etching. The smaller poles are decorative lighting, but I'm not sure if those are part of the final design. They are keeping the demolition/implosion date a secret (see my article in the Brooklyn Sun Journal why). And we were joking in the office about the computer-generated guy and what he might be doing. I suggested he was looking for the best spot to spray-paint graffiti on the bridge abutment. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
February 16, 200718 yr And here is the article: Thanks again. New bridge, trail due for Fulton Road area Thursday, February 15, 2007 By Ken Prendergast West Side Sun News Two aspects of the Fulton Road bridge replacement aren't well known, but only one is being kept a secret intentionally. The intentional secret is the date and time when the 75-year-old bridge will be imploded. Officials are keeping it a secret to avoid drawing huge crowds to witness what will likely be a spectacular demolition. Immediate neighbors are being notified, however.
April 22, 200718 yr FINALLY!!! Only three months late. Fulton Road Bridge is coming down Aging, crumbling nuisance faces demolition; public invited to watch the blast Sunday, April 22, 2007 Sarah Hollander Plain Dealer Reporter A five-second series of blasts akin to cracks of thunder will topple a majestic troublemaker Saturday morning. That's when crews plan to implode the 75-year-old Fulton Road Bridge over the Big Creek Valley and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. The bridge, in disrepair for years, was finally closed to traffic in October.
April 23, 200718 yr The zoo inadvertently let it leak two weeks ago when they issued a press release saying Northern Trek would be closed April 28 for the bridge demo. Ooops! The folks at ODOT said earlier this week that they realized they weren't going to be able to keep the demo a secret from the general public, so they might as well issue a press release. After all, they had to notify the zoo, the railroads and the residents living nearby about the demo anyways. How ODOT expected all those neighbors to keep the demo date/time to themselves is beyond me. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 23, 200718 yr I was wondering about how they were going to keep the residents from being quiet myself. I was calling ODOT a couple times a week to find out information, but they would not tell me. So I figured the residents were the only way. Do you think they will make the residents that live within 1000 ft of the bridge leave their houses?
April 26, 200718 yr Is anyone going to watch the Fulton Road Bridge come down Saturday (April 28th) at 8am? If I attend, I'll post photos and/or video. The view from the Brooklyn-Brighton Bridge should be phenomenal.
April 27, 200718 yr I don't function until 9:30 on Saturday mornings, but I'd love to see any pics/video. clevelandskyscrapers.com Cleveland Skyscrapers on Instagram
April 27, 200718 yr Residents near the bridge are being asked to stay indoors. But one of the residents with a great view of the bridge happens to be the assistant to Ward 15 Councilman Brian Cummins. She'll let me take photos from her back yard. Hopefully the police will let me get to her house!! _____________________ http://www.cleveland.com/sun/westsidesunnews/index.ssf?/base/news-0/117760575334380.xml&coll=3 Falling arches on Fulton Road Public can view implosion from area off of John Nagy Boulevard Thursday, April 26, 2007 By Ken Prendergast West Side Sun News For those wishing to see the spectacle of the Fulton Road bridge getting imploded at 8 a.m. Saturday, police have advice for you: choose your viewing location carefully. Police will be present on several residential side streets overlooking the Big Creek valley north and south of the bridge. Their goal is to keep spectators from tromping through residential yards and to prevent streets from getting clogged with parked cars, said Ward 15 Councilman Brian Cummins. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 27, 200718 yr I posted some info at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=10281.msg181055#new "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 28, 200718 yr So, this was a dud. I brought the kids. We waited. Around 8:30 there was a loud boom, but we didn't see anything. I was thinking maybe they were going to just do it in sections with the portion closest to Denison Avenue first. We did see a cloud of smoke a few moments later. The we waited again. We finally decided to leave when I saw the Channel 19 news helicopter leave. I figured they must have had the inside scoop about what was going on. They finally brought down another span - the one over CSX Rail Line - because they had to have it done in order for rail traffic to resume. The rest 0of the bridge will likely come down next week. Most of Fulton Road bridge remains standing despite implosion attempts Posted by Donna J. Miller and Rachel Dissell April 28, 2007 12:09PM Posted 10 a.m. Updated 12:20 p.m. Demolition workers tried several times this morning to bring the Fulton Road bridge down, but most of the span remains standing because of a faulty charge line, construction manager Ryan Kokosing said. The latest blast was at about 11:50 a.m., which sounded twice as powerful as the first ones, but it too failed to take much more of the bridge down.
April 29, 200718 yr Hundreds of people gathered early this morning to watch the historic bridge come down. Hundreds? I would have put the tally more in the range of 5,000 to 10,000. There were people everywhere, on the Pearl Road bridge (where I was at 8 a.m.), along Denison, Wildlife Way, Fulton Parkway, John Nagy Parkway and where Musky was, on the ramps from I-71 to Denison/W.65th. I drove around to all those places and saw Musky, too. I suspect more people would have turned out if the weather was better than the cool, drizzly, overcast, windy yuckyness. I was freezing for the 45 minutes I stood on the Pearl Road bridge. Too bad we all went home disappointed... "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 29, 200718 yr Were ODOT demolition engineers responsible for the Deconstruction of The fulton road bridge or were outside contractors?
April 29, 200718 yr Duane Houkom Inc. of Texas is the demolition company. I believe they are a subcontractor of the construction management firm, Kokosing. Kokosing was hired by ODOT, the project's sponsoring agency. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
April 30, 200718 yr This actually made the news down here. And our local stations are terrible at covering Ohio. (If it had been done successfully, I'm sure they wouldn't have mentioned it.)
April 30, 200718 yr I was pleasently surprised to see KJP there. The bridge off of I71was our second choice of viewing. From where we were for the first part of the morning, I would have no problem stating the spectator count was closer to the 5 - 10 thousand mark. We stood near the pedestrian over the creek right past the traffic circle and there were people everywhere. There has to be close to 1000 people just at he top of the hill close to where the tennis courts are (use to be?). This does not count the people who were hanging out by the football fields, on I71, on Pearl Road and those on the East side of the bridge in the Zoo parking lot. I need to upload the pictures of the crowds I took - if they turned out at all. From todays PD: (Not) falling down on the job Demolition Day falls through Fulton bridge only partly toppled Sunday, April 29, 2007 Rachel Dissell Plain Dealer Reporter The Fulton Road Bridge, deemed so deteriorated that it was a danger, refused to tumble Saturday despite several rumbling blasts of explosives. The first detonation, a few minutes before 8:30 a.m., blew out four stanchions and part of one 110-foot-high arch on the bridge's northern end. The anti-climactic blast barely dusted the grassy Big Creek Valley's edge with chunks of chalky concrete. Not sure who the photographer had to sleep with at ODOT to get these shots, but they are pretty cool. Swiped from Cleveland.com:
April 30, 200718 yr Hundreds of people gathered early this morning to watch the historic bridge come down. Hundreds? I would have put the tally more in the range of 5,000 to 10,000. There were people everywhere, on the Pearl Road bridge (where I was at 8 a.m.), along Denison, Wildlife Way, Fulton Parkway, John Nagy Parkway and where Musky was, on the ramps from I-71 to Denison/W.65th. I drove around to all those places and saw Musky, too. I suspect more people would have turned out if the weather was better than the cool, drizzly, overcast, windy yuckyness. I was freezing for the 45 minutes I stood on the Pearl Road bridge. Too bad we all went home disappointed... I was on pearl rd too.
May 1, 200718 yr Faulty bridge blast won't cost us more Posted by kturner April 30, 2007 14:29PM The incomplete explosion of the Fulton Road Bridge will not wind up costing taxpayers more money, according to officials from ODOT. The Ohio Department of Transportation agreed to the demolition price based on the job removal of the entire bridge and not the amount of time the work would take, said Ray Bencivengo, an ODOT engineer. A detonating cord meant to set off hundreds of pounds of explosives malfunctioned Saturday, ODOT said. Two of 75-year-old bridges arches were rewired and eventually exploded. Four arches over the Big Creek Valley remain. ODOT is working with the contractor, subcontractor, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, police and others to scheduled a date to finish the job. The contractor, The Kokosing Group, inspected the structure after Saturdays blasts and declared the portion still standing structurally sound, according to ODOT.
May 1, 200718 yr All parties (ODOT, contractor, demolition subcontractor, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, police etc.) met late Monday afternoon. No decision was reached on when the rest of the bridge will be imploded. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 1, 200718 yr [move]BREAKING NEWS!! BREAKING NEWS!! BREAKING NEWS!! BREAKING NEWS!![/move] The demolition contractor will make another attempt at imploding the Fulton Road bridge at 6 p.m. TODAY (May 1st). The zoo will close at 5 p.m. As before, the media and the public interested in watching the demo will be directed to the Brookside Reservation. The park is located on John Nagy Boulevard. The entrance to the boulevard is off Ridge Road, immediately south of I-71. There is a threat of severe thunderstorms this afternoon, and the implosion could be delayed if there is lightning in the area. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 2, 200718 yr Bridge went boom! All gone... I could see that some, especially elderly residents of that neighborhood were sad to see it gone. They just stood there for some long minutes, watching the dust drift away. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 21, 200817 yr I was just wondering if anyone knew whether this bridge is still progressing on time to finish late of 08' or early 09'? I used to use this bridge all the time, especially driving from Old Brooklyn to Ignatius back in the day. Also wondering if anyone knew the final design that was used. I remember a few renderings with the different light poles and railings they wanted to use but was not sure if they actually decided on any. Cleveland Rocks! - (My signature carrying on from Cleveland.com if you ever see a person saying Cleveland Rocks at the end of a post on that site its me aka. Moonshady. The one of the few positive people on that site or probably from the area posting :)
May 21, 200817 yr ^ I lived on Fulton Parkway both before the bridge was closed and when it was demolished. That small peninsula of Fulton-Fulton Parkway-Memphis became so incredibly quiet. Sure, traffic was a mess. I spoke to the folks who own and manage the Memphis-Fulton Plaza today, and I wish I would've thought to ask them how the bridge closure has affected business.
May 21, 200817 yr I live in that "peninsula" and I can say that it has been very nice without the Traffic on Park Drive. No longer have to wait to cross the street to get to the Metropark. I'm not sure about the timeline for construction - but it does appear to be progressing at a good pace. I believe there are currently 4 cranes constructing the support beams for the bridge. The final design (from what I know) is very similar to the old bridge. It will have the arches underneath with Animals engraved into them. This will give an artistic element to those walking through the Zoo. I'm pretty sure the bridge will be identical on the surface as the old one, with updated street lamps, etc.
May 22, 200817 yr I was just wondering if anyone knew whether this bridge is still progressing on time to finish late of 08' or early 09'? You mean you missed my article with the pretty photos on the front of the Brooklyn Sun Journal two weeks ago?!?! That's OK, I don't think the article got posted on Cleveland.com either since that was the week of our changeover to the new computer system. The article was published May 8. I'll have to look at it to see when the project engineer predicts the bridge will be done. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
May 22, 200817 yr I spoke to the folks who own and manage the Memphis-Fulton Plaza today, and I wish I would've thought to ask them how the bridge closure has affected business. ^ I have an update. Business is way down at Memphis-Fulton Plaza, according to my contact. He didn't have numbers. They're frustrated that the bridge happens to be going at such an incredibly slow pace and that work seems to be done when workers want to do it (sometimes days go by without work being done). They didn't think that Steelyard has had an impact in comparison to the bridge closure. I usually steal my dad's copy of the Sun News, but he stoppped buying it when they no longer included the tv guide book.
May 26, 200817 yr I went by and under the bridge the other day and I think it's progressing quite quickly...All the bridges main supports are up (and massive), the entry ramps on both sides are complete and they have about ¼ of the arches up...I don't think you could move any faster... I did have a chance a couple of weeks ago to talk with one of the architects who designed the bridge and he said that it is on schedule for the Nov. 09 completion date...
May 29, 200817 yr Took a trip to the zoo couple days ago and decided to snap a few pics of the construction. I'm going there again, since there were many "openings" to get closer to the construction and hopefully not take rushed shots.
October 27, 200816 yr Since there was a demolition thread for the Fulton Bridge I figured there should be one for the reconstruction. Unless we can rename the other thread Fulton Bridge. New Fulton Road bridge begins to take shape Posted by Karen Farkas/Plain Dealer October 26, 2008 17:51PM John Kuntz/The Plain Dealerconstruction worker examines an arch while another stands on a pier that will support the deck of the new Fulton Road Bridge. Below them is an active railroad track that engineers had to make sure the bridge would clear. It's hard to believe 240 tons of pre-cast concrete can look elegant. But as three unwieldy sections are slowly raised and joined to create an arch for the new Fulton Road Bridge, they form a graceful silhouette. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/new_fulton_road_bridge_begins.html
December 28, 200816 yr Hi all, Was at the Zoo yesterday, was very warm and lots and lots of people taking advantage of the day. Some pics of the Fulton Bridge construction. Warm nuzzles and bear hugz. Jim S.
December 28, 200816 yr I'm going to have an update on the Fulton bridge project in this week's West Side Sun and Brooklyn Sun Journal, with photos. Check it out! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
January 5, 200916 yr It's on the website, too. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
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