Fairchild Bridge to Open in November

Construction on the new has taken on a "hurry up and wait" kind of methodology.

The new bridge is scheduled to open in November despite the fact that most days little activity can be seen on the span.

Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the massive amount of concrete needed for the structure is poured in stages — and the contractor must wait seven days in between concrete pours to make sure the material cures correctly.

"Why isn't anybody working?" Bowling said has become a common question about the bridge. "Well, the concrete's working. It's setting."

Just how much concrete is in the new $23 million span? The bridge structure and approach aprons alone used 2,225 cubic feet of concrete. Workers made close to two dozen total concrete pours for different parts of the bridge.

With seven days in between each pour "it drags out the work that's being done," Bowling said. "Pretty much everything's concrete except the (steel) beams."

And with the average cement truck holding about 10 cubic yards of concrete, about 225 trips total have to be completed before the bridge is finished. But the concrete isn't all that needs to be done before the span can open to car traffic.

There are several important pieces that must be finished before it can open:

• New pavement on North Water Street must be set. Curbs are already in place.
• Work on the new service entrance for the must be finished.
• Railroad signals for the new railroad crossing on North Water Street must be installed by the railroad.
• The concrete approach aprons to the bridge must be poured.
• New traffic signals must be installed and tested for the new intersection where the bridge intersects with North Water Street.

The paving of North Water Street is the big remaining part of the project, Bowling said. A potential delay lies with installation of the new traffic signals, which must run for 10 days in a test program without sending an error message before they get the OK to direct traffic.

"If it runs two days and sends a message, the system has to run all over again," Bowling said.

He said one positive thing about the project is that all underground utility work is done. Technically, the new bridge won't be completely finished until next year when the underside is painted.

"Mid-November is when we're telling people it will open up," Bowling said.