The Columbus Road bridge — an important link from
SoLo to The Flats — still isn't open!
For those running the numbers, it's been 537 days since the bridge
shut down. The original timeframe for this $30-million project was set for 371 days. It was supposed to reopen in June. Subsequent opening dates were announced for
mid-October and mid-November.
But it still hasn't opened! And that just prolongs the nightmare of funneling traffic through either the hellish West 25th/Main/Washington intersection or the industrial wasteland of West 3rd-to-Canal (behind Tower City) or, most commonly it seems, the desolation of Scranton Road and the Carter Road bridge. The feat of simply getting from Tremont to downtown is something on the order of a Peter Jackson film.
The delay also hampers business in a neighborhood now anchored by Merwin's Wharf and that new skate park.
Basically, contractor American Bridge Co. has a
laundry list of final details to work out. We'll continue to keep tabs on this one for you.