Submitted by Jim Pajk on Mon, 11/25/2013 - 2:05pm
The Dodridge Street Bridge, Columbus, Ohio, 2013
Location: Columbus, Franklin County
Nominated by: Richard Engel, P.E., E.L. Robinson Engineering
Owner: Franklin County Engineer's Office
Description: The Dodridge Street Bridge over the Olentangy River in Franklin County, Ohio is an aesthetically pleasing structure that provides benefits to the surrounding community while having utilized innovative solutions in its design. The presence of the Olentangy Greenways Trail, one of the most popular trails in the State of Ohio, entry into a historic Columbus neighborhood, a conservation easement and scenic river provided numerous challenges both during design and construction. The community was invited to provide opinions on the type of structure and pedestrian railing aesthetics while also stated concerns in regards to construction time, current use of the bridge by different groups and the high volume of trail users which would need to be provided a safe detour. The overwhelming opinion was to provide a large span structure to open up the surrounding environmental features. The design criteria was accomplished with a new post-tensioned concrete girder bridge which has a 200 foot main span and two hidden end spans. Since the end spans could only be 26.5 feet each due to tight work restrictions, an innovative tied-down end span solution with rock anchors set 30 feet into compontent rock was developed to resist the large uplift forces at the abutments.
