NORTH RIDGEVILLE — The city must have four of seven major bridges inspected by Dec. 1 to keep alive a shot at federal money for projects including the long-sought widening of Center Ridge Road isn’t jeopardized.

The city is hoping to secure about $15 million of the projected $35 million needed to widen a 1.3-mile stretch of Center Ridge Road from three lanes to five between Stoney Ridge and Lear-Nagle roads.

“We don’t want to do anything that would disrupt the process of seeking those funds,” city Engineer Larry Griffith said. “We don’t want to get into a situation where our application is kicked back to the next year or goes to the bottom of the list.”

City Council has OK’d spending $38,000 with Richland Engineering Ltd., an engineering consulting firm, to inspect seven of the city’s 36 bridges tagged by state officials for load-limit studies, which will help determine if any must have weight load limits reduced.

The city has contracted in past years with Richland Engineering for bridge inspections, which previously cost $16,000 to $18,000. The weight studies upped the cost by $22,000, according to Griffith.

The seven bridges, mostly smaller spans, cross the creeks and ditches that criss-cross the city, and include bridges on Mildred Street and Bainbridge Road near the city service garage. Most run no more than 40 feet in length.

The city is responsible for maintaining 14 of the 36 bridges in the city, according to Randall Spiedel, assistant to the city engineer. Larger bridges on state routes and elsewhere are inspected by the state.

More precise and detailed bridge inspections are being conducted in the aftermath of the 2007 collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis that claimed the lives of 13 people. The more extensive inspections replace visual inspections that were formerly standard.

For some time, ODOT has assisted federal officials to ensure all bridges in Ohio cities and counties comply with federal safety guidelines, according to Brian Stacy, spokesman for ODOT’s District 3 in Ashland, which encompasses more than 1,400 bridges in an eight-county region that includes Lorain, Ashland, Erie and Medina counties.

Ohio has more than 42,000 bridges, second most of any state in the nation. Of this number, ODOT is responsible for nearly 14,900 on the state’s highway system.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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