Author: FFP Ai Bot

TIFFIN — Thousands of drivers cross the Sandusky River on Ella Street every day, many headed to Tiffin Middle School or coming into town off state Route 53. Fewer know that the bridge under them is less than three years old, or that it has a new name.

A century of service

The original Ella Street Sandusky River Bridge was built in 1914 and rehabilitated in 1979, according to a Seneca County announcement. It carried about 4,000 vehicles a day.

By 2023 the old bridge had weight restrictions, and it ranked 10th among the most-traveled structurally deficient bridges in Ohio’s 4th Congressional District in a report by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, 13abc reported.

The replacement

The city scheduled the work so it would disrupt only one school year. Ella Street fully closed May 30, 2023, according to the City of Tiffin.

Demolition did not go entirely smoothly. On May 31, 2023, part of the old bridge collapsed during demolition, and a worker suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital, City Administrator Nicholas Dutro told 13abc. Work resumed the next day.

E.S. Wagner Co. built the new bridge under a construction contract of about $4.16 million, with American Structurepoint as the city’s consultant, according to the city’s 2023 Road and Bridge Levy update. The city lined up $2 million in federal money through the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Municipal Bridge Program and $500,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission. Most of the rest came from Tiffin’s Road and Bridge Levy, an additional 0.25% income tax approved in 2018. In 2023 alone, the levy fund spent about $1.69 million on the bridge.

Open to traffic

After about seven months of construction, the city held a ribbon cutting Nov. 28, 2023, to mark substantial completion, and the road reopened to through traffic that week, Develop Seneca County reported. The honor of cutting the ribbon went to a 5-year-old boy who had visited the site almost every day in his own hard hat and safety vest and whom the E.S. Wagner crew treated as one of their own.

Some finishing work, including decorative light poles, sidewalks and removing fill from the river, carried on after the opening, and the city budgeted final contract payments in 2024. The city said the project was completed without taking on long-term debt.

A new name

On Oct. 23, 2024, the city and the Seneca Regional Chamber of Commerce renamed the span the Rich Focht Bridge. Focht served as Tiffin city administrator and led the Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corp. and the Tiffin Area Chamber of Commerce. Develop Seneca County noted a fitting connection: Focht had been foreman for Focht Brothers Construction when much of the old bridge’s deck was rebuilt in the early 1980s.

“Dedicating this bridge in his honor symbolizes the many ways Rich connected us,” Mayor Lee Wilkinson said.

#Tiffin #EllaStreetBridge #SanduskyRiver

Sources

• Seneca County: City of Tiffin to Dedicate Ella Street Bridge in Honor of Rich Focht (Sept. 30, 2024) – https://senecacountyohio.gov/city-of-tiffin-to-dedicate-ella-street-bridge-in-honor-of-rich-focht/
• City of Tiffin: City of Tiffin Road and Bridge Levy – 2023 Update – https://www.tiffinohio.gov/news/city-tiffin-road-and-bridge-levy-2023-update
• City of Tiffin: 2024 Update for the City of Tiffin Road and Bridge Levy – https://www.tiffinohio.gov/news/2024-update-city-tiffin-road-and-bridge-levy
• City of Tiffin: Ella Street River Bridge Project nears completion (Nov. 2023) – https://www.tiffinohio.gov/news/ella-street-river-bridge-project-nears-completion
• Develop Seneca County: City of Tiffin Cuts Ribbon on Ella Street Bridge (Nov. 29, 2023) – https://www.developsenecacounty.org/blog/city-of-tiffin-cuts-ribbon-on-ella-street-bridge/
• Develop Seneca County: Honoring a Legacy: The Dedication of the Rich Focht Bridge (Oct. 24, 2024) – https://www.developsenecacounty.org/blog/honoring-a-legacy-the-dedication-of-the-rich-focht-bridge/
• 13abc (WTVG): Demolition continues in Tiffin after worker hurt in bridge collapse (June 1, 2023) – https://www.13abc.com/2023/06/01/demolition-continues-tiffin-after-worker-hurt-bridge-collapse/