Impactful Infrastructure Improvements in Tiffin, Ohio

The City of Tiffin’s leaders remain committed to its citizens and businesses. They have a reputation for developing the area and providing impactful infrastructure improvements throughout the City. Earlier this month, the City’s Ella Street Waterworks Canal Bridge construction project began. This $509,000 project will repair the existing bridge, which had weight restrictions that prohibited traffic including fire trucks, snow plows and school buses, and also widens the sidewalks on each side of the bridge to improve pedestrian safety and complete a connectivity component of the City of Tiffin’s Active Transportation Plan. DGL’s design contributions to this project included numerous bridge inspections and load ratings, topographic surveys, structure and roadway, maintenance of traffic, right of way determination, as well as geotechnical and environmental oversight. We are now working on the construction phase of the project, which is scheduled for a mid-August completion.

The Ella Street Sandusky River Bridge project is also underway. The existing Ella Street Sandusky River Bridge was originally constructed in 1914 and was rehabilitated in 1979. An impressive 4,000 vehicles pass over the bridge daily, so this project has been on the City’s radar for many years. DGL was hired in 2017 to perform an assessment and a Preliminary Structure Study for rehabilitation or replacement of this structure. In 2019, DGL updated the Preliminary Structure Type Study and provided support for the 2019 Municipal Bridge Application submittal to ODOT, which, if successful, would grant the City funding from the State/Federal. DGL also assisted with the ODOT interview/presentation prepared by the City Engineer in September 2019. The City’s proactive approach, convincing presentation and DGL’s support led to the approval of $2M in funding by ODOT’s Municipal Bridge Program. The estimated total project cost for the bridge project is over $4 million and the local share will be offset by funding from the City’s road and bridge levy that was passed by voters in May 2018.

DGL has been the City of Tiffin’s Bridge Engineer since 2009, performing bridge rehabilitation and replacement design, load rating, structure studies, annual bridge inspections and assisting/securing construction and load rating funding through ODOT for the City’s bridges. We have been inspecting this bridge for over a decade and have also secured load rating funding that was performed by ODOT’s consultant in 2012. DGL’s experience and knowledge with this bridge is unparalleled. Because of our preliminary work and deep knowledge of the City’s structures, substantial cost savings were realized for this project. Our design includes replacing the existing bridge with a new wider structure consisting of three-span prestressed concrete I-beams with a composite reinforced concrete deck superstructure. Our construction services team will also be engaged upon the start of construction to ensure the City and its residence receive the highest quality from their selected contractor.

We enjoy the collaborative environment the City has created to provide a safe and thriving community for residents, businesses, employees and visitors. Tiffin continues to experience incredible growth and development because of their culture and we are proud to supplement their stellar team!