ELYRIA — Funds to fix the Ford Road bridge may not come until 2011 at the earliest and 2013 at the latest, city officials said.

The one-lane bridge, which spans the Black River and has been a crossing point between Midway Boulevard and Gulf Road since 1953, closed in December 2008 because it is in poor condition and needs close to $1 million in repairs. Since then, city officials have tried to secure funding to fix the bridge, and now it seems like it will be a few more years before the money comes through.

City Engineer Mukund Moghe came to City Council’s Finance Committee for permission to apply for funding through the Ohio Department of Transportation. ODOT’s municipal bridge program allows cities to receive a grant for up to $2.5 million with cities providing a 20 percent match.

However, if it is approved, the funds won’t be available until 2013. And even then, the city cannot simply repair the bridge, Moghe said.

State regulations require bridges to be two-lane bridges, which means the Ford Road bridge will have to be rebuilt to those specifications, Moghe said.

Making Ford Bridge wider is something Councilman Larry Tanner, D-1st Ward, said he would be in favor of because it should have happened long ago, he said. He along with all of the other Council members unanimously voted to approve applying for the ODOT grant.

The city is also looking at whether it can obtain a loan from future Issue 2 payments from the state to make the necessary repairs, but it will be at least June or July before city officials will learn if they will be eligible to receive the loan in 2011, which will be paid back over 28 years. The city would prefer the Issue 2 funds, Moghe said, because then the city could simply make repairs, not rebuild the bridge.

Until repairs are made, Moghe said, the bridge will remain closed to travelers.

The repairs the bridge needs run the gamut and include several deficiencies that were noted by engineers the last time the bridge was inspected. At that time in early 2008, the report looked at 26 components of the bridge and noted that the floor of the steel truss bridge is in poor condition.

The asphalt is wearing, with numerous chips and cracks. Also, the deck expansion joints leak onto the steel structure, and loose joints exaggerate a vehicle’s impact on the bridge, among other things. The report lists 16 recommendations on how to repair the bridge.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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