Construction began in earnest Wednesday on the new Inner Belt Bridge. Crews are pounding I-beams deep into the bedrock to form the foundation for the $287.4 million project.
If you didn’t notice already, you probably will soon. It’s going to be… um… noisy.
Ohio Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jocelynn Clemings told the PD, “It will be like elevator music, in the background,” which is a nice way of saying that there will be incessant pounding during normal waking hours, but at least there’s no trip to the dentist at the end of the ride.
ODOT, overseeing the project, warned this week that the pile driving will be “persistent and rhythmic, oftentimes loud. … Vibrations may be felt across the river valley and surrounding area.”
The pounding will take place from about 7 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., five to six days a week. Crews put down a bed of large timbers for the pile-driving crane, so it wouldn’t damage underground utilities or tear into the ground during operation.
The “elevator music” of construction, it should be noted, is still preferable to listening to Michael Bolton.
This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 5, 2011.
Yeah I live in one of the “luxury” apartment buildings right near by, not only is there the noise but there is a constant HUM even throughout the night and worse than that, is the Vibrations, my entire building is SHAKING, for the remainder of my lease that I am stuck in, I will not be here, I hope they enjoy the hell out of this bridge because its making its residents miserable already, and for those of us who suffer from anxiety or panic disorders, we are totally screwed. But even a healthy person sitting somewhere thats shaking for 24 hours is going to start to feel sick from it. Please tell me that these Vibrations if nothing else will not last until fall??