The Veterans Glass City Skyway is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in Toledo, Ohio, that crosses the Maumee River and carries Interstate 280. Finished in 2007, it was the largest construction project ever carried out by the Ohio Department of Transportation.
History
Planning for a new crossing to replace the Craig Memorial Bridge over the Maumee River began in 1988. A Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments report indicated that the existing drawbridge on Interstate 280 needed to be replaced or bypassed. 3 12 The drawbridge was opened approximately 900 times yearly for ship traffic. 13 In 1991, federal funds were secured for preliminary planning, but it wasn’t until 1998 that the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Transportation Review Advisory Council allocated $200 million in state and federal funds for the project. 3 12
ODOT proposed building a new bridge alongside the existing Interstate 280. 3 In a series of public meetings, ODOT project planners and HNTB/Parsons Brinckerhoff 12 presented potential designs, including box girder, truss, suspension, and cable-stayed designs. A tunnel option was eliminated due to high construction and maintenance costs. 4 The box-girder and truss options were dismissed, as public preference leaned toward the distinctive cable-stayed design by FIGG of Tallahassee, Florida. 12 Most attendees favored a single center pylon with stays radiating down to the deck, glass panels in the center tower with internal lighting, and stainless steel sheathing on the cables. The public also supported a divided bike path and new park space alongside the bridge. 3
In 2001, a survey asked for bridge name suggestions, with most participants choosing either Veterans’ Memorial Bridge or Glass City Skyway. 3 4 The final decision merged the two options to form the Veterans Glass City Skyway.
Construction
The Skyway’s groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 11, 2001, 1 and construction bids were opened on January 15, 2002. 12 In March, Fru-Con Construction of Ballwin, Missouri, was awarded the $220 million contract, with an expected completion date of October 26, 2006. 1
By June, Fru-Con had begun drilling foundation shafts for the new bridge piers and started working on a 32-foot-deep cofferdam in the Maumee River for the 403¼-foot-tall center pylon. 1 Over two years, bridge components, including 3,008 deck segments and 42 85-ton delta frames, were fabricated from reinforced concrete at a yard on Front Street. 6 The first delta frame, cast on August 29, 2002, consisted of an epoxy-covered steel reinforcing frame. It took 90 minutes to fill the frame, which then took a month to cure. The components were installed using two Italian gantry-truss cranes.
By July 2003, the Skyway was 45% complete, and work had begun on assembling the East Toledo approach viaduct. The project was 405 days ahead of schedule, prompting Fru-Con and ODOT to agree to complete the work by Labor Day of 2005.
Complications
On February 16, 2004, one of the two gantry truss cranes used to assemble the spans detached from its moorings and crashed 60 feet to the ground. 1 2 4 This incident resulted in the deaths of four ironworkers and injuries to four others. An investigation revealed that shortcuts had been taken to anchor the crane’s rear legs when repositioned. In response, Fru-Con removed the self-contained repositioning system from the remaining truss crane and brought in two other cranes for redundancy. 1
On October 23, another incident occurred when a positioning leg fell from a truss crane as it was being moved into place. 1 No workers were injured, and the incident was attributed to a miswired control switch. Work on the bridge was halted for eight months while the contractor revised its construction plan and acquired new equipment.
Shortly afterward, a concrete quality issue in the pylon’s construction required Fru-Con to remove and replace 184 cubic yards of concrete. 1 This did not affect the project’s schedule. Additionally, ODOT discovered that the plastic coating on many stay-cable strands had cracked, affecting their longevity but not their strength. Most of the coatings were replaced.
Another construction incident occurred on April 19, 2006, when a work platform attached to the bridge’s side detached and fell 82 feet to the ground. 1 2 4 A carpenter working on the platform was killed, and others were injured. Fru-Con was fined $405,000 by OSHA for violations related to the collapse and paid $11.25 million in settlements to affected families. 1 2
Milestones
The last of the concrete segments for the new bridge was poured shortly after 9:15 a.m. on April 1, 2005. 6 A small ceremony was held on October 17 after the main pylon was “topped off,” involving the lifting of a 13½-foot-tall inverted concrete “V” 400 feet by crane to the top. 9 Another milestone occurred on July 13, 2006, when the first stainless steel sheathing for the stay cables was installed. 7 This step, which took 15 minutes, was the beginning of constructing 20 sets of stable cables. The threading of 119 strands of cables for the sheathing was completed the following day.
Interstate 280 was closed between the Greenbelt Parkway and Summit Street from October 18, 2005, to November 2006, while the North Toledo approach viaduct was constructed over the existing highway. 1 9 Although the interstate was not initially planned to be closed, earlier crane incidents led to a change in plans. Due to significant construction delays, ODOT waived a $20,000-per-day completion penalty until March 2, 2007. The state had been fining Fru-Con $10,000 per day for the continued closure of Interstate 280 since May 28, 2006, accumulating over $1.7 million in penalties by the time the freeway reopened.
The final two precast bridge segments were installed on December 20, and the final concrete pour to join the main span over the Maumee with the North Toledo viaduct approach took place on February 16, 2007. 1 10 12
A dedication ceremony was held at 10:30 a.m. on June 23, 2007, followed by a four-mile race and walk at noon and a parade led by veterans’ groups in automobiles along the northbound lanes at 12:30 p.m. 4 5 Two of the three lanes of the new bridge opened to automobile traffic the next day. The remaining lane opened later in the year after defective stay-cable strands were replaced.
A memorial for the five workers who died during the Skyway’s construction was built in Tribute Park in October 2010. 2 It featured a kinetic sculpture atop four pillars, with two 24-foot arms that spin in the wind.
The Skyway project was completed with 2.2 million man-hours and cost $237 million, 10 setting several records and milestones. 4 These include the world’s thickest stay cables at 70% thicker than previous domestic usage, 12 the first use of stainless steel cable sheathing, and the first pylon with 176 internally lit, inlaid glass panels featuring 13,824 light-emitting diodes in 384 fixtures. 1 11 12 The lights are expected to last 22 years before needing replacement, and the stay cables are expected to last 100 years. 8
The innovative cable cradle system, which allows each strand to act independently and be replaced individually, received the Pankow Award from the Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation and the NOVA Award from the Construction Innovation Forum. 11
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Details
- State: Ohio
- Route: Interstate 280
- Status: Active (Automobile)
- Type: Cable-Stay Suspension
- Total Length: 8,800'
- Main Span Length: 1,225'
- Spans: 0
- Deck Width: 0
- Roadway Width: 0
- Height of Structure: 403.25'
- Above Vertical Clearance: 0
- Navigational Clearance: 0
Sources
- Patch, David. “ODOT’s largest construction project ever produces Toledo’s ‘signature bridge’.” Toledo Blade 17 June 2007: n.p. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Skyway workers to be remembered.” Toledo Blade 4 Oct. 2010: n.p. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Public participation played an important role in the Skyway’s conception, design, development.” Toledo Blade 17 June 2007: n.p. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Toledo’s new Glass City Skyway hailed as ‘civic cathedral’ in sky: Dedication precedes opening of Toledo’s bridge to future.” Toledo Blade 24 June 2007: n.p. Web. 7 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Glass City Skyway set to bridge Toledo: Pedestrians have $237M signature span to themselves today.” Toledo Blade 23 June 2007: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Murphy, Steve. “Bridge passes construction milestone.” Toledo Blade 2 Apr. 2005: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Landmark bridge takes a major step: Workers hoist 1st sheath that will hold stay cables.” Toledo Blade 14 July 2006: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “ODOT officials say it should be several decades before the new bridge requires significant work.” Toledo Blade 17 June 2007: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Crowning of Skyway signals start of big detour.” Toledo Blade 18 Oct. 2005: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Patch, David. “Glass City Skyway reaches across river: Final pair of segments are lowered into position.” Toledo Blade 21 Dec. 2006: n.p. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Meyer, Daniel, and Denney Pate. “I-280 Veterans’ Glass City Skyway.” Structure Oct. 2009: n. pag. STRUCTUREmag. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.
- Gramza, Michael, and Jeff Walters. “Veterans’ Glass City Skyway.” ASPIRE Summer 2007: 30-34. Print.
- Weber, Laren. “Beneath the beams, abutments, and concrete, Toledo’s Maumee crossings have a story to tell.” Toledo Blade 17 June 2007: n.p. Web. 6 Sept. 2013.