I-75 traffic will 'be a challenge' as new Western Hills Viaduct moves into high gear

Cincinnati has been talking about fixing the aging but vital Western Hills Viaduct since it was declared "functionally obsolete" in 2007.

Beginning this summer, talk turns to more visible action, as Duke Energy starts to relocate a utility substation and city workers raze another building in the path of the bridge that will replace the viaduct.

The work will be nonstop after that, as the new $398 million bridge goes up over Mill Creek and the Queensgate railroad yard, the existing Western Hills Viaduct comes down and a new interchange to Interstate 75 goes in, all by 2032 or before.

And, oh, the giant Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project – which includes eight miles of I-75 improvements on top of bridge work – will kick into high gear around the same time.

“Traffic in general is going to be a challenge,” said Bill Shefcik, who heads the Western Hills Viaduct project for the Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering.

In the meantime, Shefcik’s No. 1 priority is keeping the existing 92-year-old viaduct – a double-decker structure that carries 55,000 vehicles a day – in operation until its removal.

“Our goal is to keep it open, functional and safe until the new bridge is open,” Shefcik said.

‘Never discount’ calls about falling concrete

Shefcik was on hand last Saturday as the city closed the bottom deck of the viaduct for maintenance. Workers conducted close-up inspection of the structure’s steel parts, a yearly task. They used laser technology to capture bridge information they’ll need to plan its demolition. And they chipped away loose concrete from the underside of the top deck, a twice-a-year project.

Workers climbed into a bucket lift for that last job, poking at loose patches with oversized garden hoes (called spud bars), sending chunks of concrete to the closed Spring Grove Avenue below.

The city installed netting at that spot in 2021 to catch debris and closed parts of the viaduct briefly twice last October to check out falling concrete.

In response, the city now conducts a visual inspection of the viaduct’s concrete every month, Shefcik said.

It also follows up whenever a driver or pedestrian reports an issue. “We check it. We never discount a call,” he said.

With multiple players, timing ‘still fluid’

As Shefcik tracks the health of the current viaduct – which the Ohio Department of Transportation deemed "poor," "reaching the end of its useful life" and "functionally obsolete" 17 years ago – he also coordinates all the players involved in preparing to replace it.

Duke Energy is key among them. Earlier this month, the utility told residents and businesses to expect “increased construction activity in the coming weeks” at 2261 Spring Grove Ave., where it will build what it is calling its Camp Washington Substation on the north side of the viaduct.

Duke will install eight steel utility poles, each rising 106 to 190 feet in the air, and 4,000 feet of new transmission line through November as part of the project, its letter said. It will build the new substation starting this summer and begin dismantling its existing Brighton Substation, on Spring Grove south of the viaduct, in early 2026.

CSX, which operates the Queensgate yard, is another key player. The city needs the railroad giant to relocate one of its 23 tracks in the yard to make way for a pier for the new bridge. It also needs to coordinate with CSX to build two paths over Mill Creek for construction equipment.

The state transportation department is a third player of importance. It will build the interchange to connect the new bridge to I-75. That's scheduled to happen during a phase of the Brent Spence project running 2029-2032.

The city also needs to finish razing buildings it bought in the last two years, spending a total of $7.3 million, to clear the way for the new bridge:

• A second Q Laboratories building on Harrison Avenue will come down this year, following a Q Labs structure removed in spring 2022. That company, which tests food and personal care products, moved to South Fairmount in 2018.

• Buildings that had been home to heating and cooling contractor Corcoran & Harnist, and two auto businesses (Auto Empire and Express Tire) will come down next year. Corcoran & Harnist now operates in Winton Hills and the other businesses closed.

• A packaging services company called Chem-Pack Inc., meanwhile, moved to Florence in Northern Kentucky, with the city taking down its Spring Avenue building last spring to clear the site for Duke.

If each player and process stays on schedule, the new bridge will debut, 50 feet to the south of the existing viaduct, in 2032 at the latest.

“The timing for the construction is still fluid,” Shefcik said.

Old name is new name

The city plans to construct the new bridge – which it now, simply, calls “the new Western Hills Viaduct” – from both ends and connect it in the middle.

A single deck will carry four lanes in each direction, with a sidewalk on the north side and wider bike-hike path on the south.

City, county, state and federal funds will cover the project cost, with:

• $127 million from a U.S. Department of Transportation grant program.

• $120 million from the Southwest Regional Transit Authority, which runs Cincinnati’s Metro bus system.

• $87 million from grants administered by the Ohio transportation department.

• $33 million from city bonds and $33 million from Hamilton County license plate fees.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: When will Cincinnati's Western Hills Viaduct be replaced?