Bridge Options Narrowed to Three (Aired September 13, 2006)
Listen to the MP3
The options for a new I-90 inner belt bridge have been narrowed from eight down to three. As ideastream's Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports, Northeast Ohio residents and planners have less than 30 days to share their opinions with the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Inner Belt Bridge Concept Images
Courtesy of ODOT
See all concept images of the three bridge options at ODOT's website here.

Steel Arch	Single Tower Cable Stay
Two-Tower Cable Stay

Making a bold architectural statement was the determining factor for the selection of the three final bridge types. Two of bridge types use cables and towers to suspend the bridge deck. One is a single tower and the other has pairs of towers on either side of the Cuyahoga Valley crossing. The third design uses a steel arch, similar to the Hope Memorial Bridge.

ODOT's bridge selection Committee will meet on October 5th to choose a final design, leaving Northeast Ohio less than the normal 30 days to submit comments. Craig Hebebrand at the ODOT says this shorter time frame shouldn't limit the amount of responses.

Craig Hebebrand: Actually, we find most of the responses come within immediately. We'll get the vast majority of the responses in the first couple days of the meeting and then it tapers off very quickly.

A public meeting to present the three final bridge designs will be held Wednesday night in Tremont. Lisa Ann Pinkerton, 90.3.