Over a dozen companies collaborated closely with the Ohio Department of Transportation to help restore the damaged structure ahead of the expedited schedule.
It took a little over three months—ahead of an already-accelerated emergency repair timeline—to get traffic flowing again after arsonists set fire to the playground beneath the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge in Cincinnati.
Known locally as the “Big Mac Bridge”—when seen from afar, its yellow-painted double-arched design resembles the ubiquitous yellow-arched logo of a well-known global fast-food chain—the Interstate 471 Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is a vital route for the region. It connects downtown Cincinnati with Newport, Ky., and is traversed by more than 55,000 vehicles per day. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) had been forced to declare emergency closures of its southbound lanes following the Nov. 1, 2024 fire.
Cutting through red tape
Considering the substantial traffic impacts caused by I-471 southbound lane closures, ODOT knew it would need to expedite repairs to the damaged bridge, especially in the wake of other similar emergency bridge repair scenarios within the past few years. In May 2020, the I-71 Brent Spence Bridge in Covington, Ky., also closed due to fire damage resulting from a traffic accident. Like the Big Mac Bridge, the Brent Spence Bridge is a crucial roadway that spans the Ohio River between Ohio and Kentucky near Cincinnati.
“When an emergency is declared, it cuts through a lot of red tape,” said Stupp Bridge Co. Senior Vice President of Sales Adam DeMargel.
Within a week of the fire, before any fabricators had been chosen or any contracts signed, representatives from The Great Lakes Construction Co. (GLC) and the Stupp Bridge fabrication team met with ODOT Area Engineer Chris Tuminello, PE, onsite to assess the damage and discuss methods for speeding up the steel fabrication process.
Deploy the drones
Inspectors could not initially get on top or even near the bottom of the severely damaged southbound lanes due to the structure’s instability—and that’s where ODOT’s UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) Center stepped in. The team flew drones to perform a close-up visual inspection where a hands-on inspection could not be performed initially.
The UAS Center also deployed its robotic dog, “Brutus,” to conduct a light detection and ranging (lidar) scan of damaged areas, using the sensors attached to the robodog to measure distances and create digital models.
Together, these lidar data supplements and drone footage gave ODOT engineers a comprehensive understanding of the damage, allowing them to assess the bridge's structural integrity more accurately and devise an efficient, cost-effective plan to get it back up and running as soon as possible.
Clear communication, close collaboration
The emergency bridge repair required close collaboration among hundreds of people from over a dozen organizations—including Nucor Steel, Stupp Bridge, and GLC, among others—working through the holiday season to design, fabricate, and replace the damaged sections using new custom-fabricated plate girders.
While crews were inspecting the bridge and devising an accelerated plan, ODOT Press Secretary Matt Bruning and District 8 Public Information Officer Kathleen Fuller worked with the city of Cincinnati and its police and fire departments to keep the public informed.
“One of the first things the contracting team did was set up daily meetings with ODOT,” Stupp Bridge sales engineer/territory manager Derek Manz said. “ODOT was willing to set aside any of their resources possible and allocate time every day just to stay on top of this repair project.”
ODOT launched a dedicated website that provided work updates (transportation.ohio.gov/471fire) and emailed each update to a list of media outlets and the public. Updates initially went out every morning and afternoon, then once daily after the first week.
Use in case of emergency: Accelerated timelines, holiday working hours
Once ODOT had provided preliminary designs and approved Stupp Bridge ordered materials on Nov. 27, two days after receiving GLC’s letter of intent, then began fabricating the custom girders on Dec. 17, just 13 days after E.L. Robinson sent official RFC drawings on Dec. 4.
All told, Stupp fabricated seven girders, with weights ranging from 22,483 lb to 27,296 lb. (totaling just over 104 tons altogether). The largest four girders measure 98 ft 9 in., 96 ft 5 in., 94 ft 5 in., and 92 ft 6 in., respectively. The three remaining girders were all 60 ft 11 in.
Between the preliminary design and material fabrication phases, teams worked throughout the holiday season to speed up the front end of the repair process so that new girders could arrive on site as early as Jan. 9 for construction to commence.
Less than a week later—just one month after fabrication began—the last girders were delivered to the Big Mac Bridge repair site on Jan. 15, 2025. And, less than one month after the final girder arrived, the I-471 southbound lanes of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge officially reopened to the commuting public—two days ahead of schedule.
How’s that for Speedee Service?