MANSFIELD — If you want to visit North Lake Park in the next couple of months, plan on entering via Rowland Avenue.
Other access roads into the 20-acre park will be closed, likely through the end of July, during an $854,940 project to replace a double-box bridge on the park’s west side.
That work began Tuesday, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi, and is being handled by Adena Corp. of Mansfield.
“It’s going to take a couple of months,” the engineer said Thursday afternoon. “I anticipate this going into late July.”
Adena was one of two companies that submitted bids for the project this spring, which had been estimated at $975,000. Great Lakes Demolition of Clyde had bid $1,123,639 in an effort to get the job.
The Control Board also awarded a contract up to $98,000 to K.E. McCartney & Associates of Mansfield was awarded a $98,000 contract to provide inspection services for the project.
Adena workers were seen Thursday working to demolish the old bridge.
Mansfield City Council approved the project in March, which will paid for from the city’s sewer fund.
The current double-box bridge will be replaced by a single, wider box culvert, according to Bianchi.
“Right now, that double box acts as debris catch,” he said. “It fills up with debris and prevents water from flowing through it.”
North Lake Park history
Mansfield had only one small park before 1887—it was the Square downtown: Central Park. So it was quite a civic asset, adding terrific value to the city, when the new Park Commission arranged to procure South Park from Senator John Sherman, and North Park from Abraham Heineman; and combine them into a whole mile and a half of scenic green space on the west end of town, called Sherman-Heineman Park.
The new bridge will have a sandstone veneer, similar to the new arched bridge that sits just to the east. That arched bridge was replaced in 2021.
Bianchi said the foundations of the current bridge are more than 100 years old.
“The bridge was widened to two boxes about 70 years ago and the decks have been replaced over time. There have been repairs over the years. It was just time to replace it,” he said.
Bianchi said Rowland Avenue is being used for construction access for material and workers.
Hence, the need to also close other roads that come to the park off of Fourth Street. The loop around the park is on a one-way loop. Local traffic for residents on other streets will be maintained.
“We didn’t want (contractors) going over the new bridge. We want them to be able to come down Rowland and go left to get to the site,” he said.
(Photos and a video taken at North Lake Park on Thursday as construction begins on a new bridge.)
