When the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) determined it was time to replace the State Route 8 (SR 8) bridge over the Little Cuyahoga River just north of the Akron city limits, the site presented a daunting set of obstacles to overcome. Some feet beneath the existing structural steel arch bridge built in 1953, lies not only a waterway, but also five rail lines, a school bus depot and maintenance facility, a road, and a high-power line. Practicality as well as safety called for a unique approach: phased incremental launched installation or, in shorthand, “bridge launching.”
The $158 million project is being constructed by a joint venture formed by Ohio contractors Ruhlin Company of Sharon Center, Ohio, and Great Lakes Construction Company of Hinckley, Ohio, under a design-bid-build contract. The SR 8 bridge is the first time that ODOT is using the launching method.
The project includes construction of two new bridges. A 1,600-foot-long southbound one is currently being built. When finished, the traffic of some 114,000 vehicles a day will be rerouted onto it from the existing bridge, which will then be demolished. Then the construction of the new 1,580-foot-long northbound bridge will begin in 2026.
Aesthetic elements on the bridge will enhance its appeal to drivers. A vertical sign on the northern end that lights up at night artfully tags its Akron locale — a city known as “The Rubber Capital of the World” for its historical centrality in tire manufacturing. The city’s name from its recently adopted logo will also be featured on a sound wall.
The project will reach completion in 2028.
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“Feasibility studies for this project ... look[ed] at the existing bridge, determin[ed] what we wanted to put in its place, and how we were going to do that,” ODOT Construction Engineer Joshua Smith said. “The site conditions leaned towards the launching method to be best for this site.”
“This valley is pretty steep with a lot of rock outcroppings and steep slopes,” said Laura Beese, ODOT Design Engineer about the reasons why launching was chosen. “Also, worker safety — they don’t have to be suspended 150 feet in the air. All that added up to our conclusion that launching was easier and safer and more cost effective.”
“The south slope is really constrained with fiber optic and communication cables and storm sewers that just would make putting conventional crane benches in very difficult,” said Don Rife, Vice President, Business Development for Ruhlin. “It was challenging enough to get the cranes where we had to in order [to] build the large piers.”
Drilled pier shaft construction for the piers began in August 2023. “The piers are unique,” Smith said. “They have a hammerhead style which essentially come up from the ground straight and arch out to give it more of an aesthetic appeal.”
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Although lifting the span components in place by crane is a more common steel bridge construction method, launching originated in Germany in the 1850s with a single-line railway bridge over the Rhine River. It has been used on both steel and concrete structures. The SR 8 project brings new elements to the method.
To assemble the structural steel deck support components for the southbound bridge, the contractors built what they call a “launch pit” 400 feet back from the northern abutment.
“We excavated down and put in stabilized sub-grade, crane mats, and then rails underneath each of the six steel beam girders,” Rife said. The contractors designed rollers placed underneath the girders of the deck support structures assembled in the launch pit.
“The workers are basically erecting it at relatively low heights, and the crane work is all in relatively close proximity, with one single crane picking up everything off the trucks and setting it in place on the rollers. And it’s assembled close to the ground,” Rife added. “We then use hydraulic jacks to push it south from that north abutment to the first pier. Then we add more girder and push out to the next span.”
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“Two control centers work a series of six hydraulic jacks in tandem with another series of six to actually walk this thing out from the launch pit to the piers,” Smith said. “Each new section that gets added acts as a counterweight. The section we push first is what's going to be on the south end of the bridge at the end of the day.”
The first 196-foot girder assembly was pushed out in June, taking about six hours to be placed atop the first pier from the northern abutment. At the time of writing this article, Rife said, “We're just about to push the longest segment, which is 340 feet on this next push.”
A total of seven pushes will complete the span.
The Ruhlin/Great Lakes joint venture reflects a collegiality within the Ohio construction community.
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“Competitors is definitely not an inaccurate description for Great Lakes and Ruhlin at times,” said Sean Compton, Great Lakes General Superintendent on the project. “We are in the same markets and perform many similar disciplines of work. Often on jobs that we get, they're close behind us in the bidding. And a lot of the jobs that they get, we're close behind them. So I would say we are colleagues above all else, but also competitors at times.”
“This is not our first joint venture with Ruhlin,” he added. “Great Lakes, Ruhlin, and Trumbull Corporation [of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] teamed up on the second phase of the Innerbelt Bridge Modernization in Cleveland.”
Rife said the SR 8 bridge joint venture helped overcome any workforce challenges. “We just combined our local resources to have sufficient workers to build this bridge,” he said. “We have composite Great Lakes and Ruhlin crews of people, plus we hire people out of the local union halls as needed.”
Compton noted how his teamwork with Ruhlin Senior Project Manager Mark Myers has benefitted the project.
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“As General Superintendent on the project, I'm more on the operations side looking forward to make sure our crews are set up,” he said. “Mark, having an operational background and significant experience, provides different perspectives at times that may challenge my approach in order to find the most effective direction as a team. The value of that insight can’t be overstated. Both he and I were involved big time with the estimators when we bid the project, which is a huge help because having that background when you're building a job is invaluable.”
“The Ohio Contractors Association functions as a group to help push the industry forward from a collective contractor standpoint rather than each of us trying to make an impact individually,” Compton added. “We can pool our resources that way as well. We're always hoping for the best for everybody. It's better for the industry that way. The stronger the group stays, the stronger the industry remains.”
- Owner: Ohio Department of Transportation
- General Contractors: Ruhlin Company and Great Lakes Construction Company (joint venture)
- Subcontractors, Suppliers, and Consultants: Industrial Steel Construction, Inc., Gary, Indiana (structural steel supply); Mack Industries, Inc., Brunswick, Ohio (concrete supply); KLE Construction, Cleveland, Ohio (reinforcing steel supply and installation); Miller Cable Company, Green Springs, Ohio (highway and aesthetic lighting); Fasick Group, LLC, New Brighton, Pennsylvania (launching plan and engineering consultant); AG Industries Inc., Brunswick, Ohio (launch rollers supply); PMV, Inc., Scott, Louisiana (launching hydraulics supply); EFCO Corp., Des Moines, Iowa (substructure formwork supply)
