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Question: I would like information on the project involving the road crew working on East Third Street in Mansfield, putting in pipes. Is this the water company? How long will Third Street be closed? What is is Ritter’s Run?
MANSFIELD — A $4.2 million project is underway to to replace or rehabilitate about 1,700 feet of a failing, century-old box culvert along East Third Street.
Bob Bianchi, the City of Mansfield engineer, said the major portion of the project involves replacing the culvert.
“However, there are smaller items such as relocating a waterline and replacing a sanitary sewer,” Bianchi said.
“The waterline relocation is currently being performed by the contractor. The culvert will be replaced in the coming months.
“The road is expected to be closed through the summer,” he told Richland Source.
Bianchi said Ritter’s Run is a river that runs through downtown.
“A large portion of the river is enclosed with culverts and arches and is not necessarily noticeable downtown,” Bianchi said.
Shelly & Sands was awarded the construction project after submitting a low bid of $3,869,850. K.E. McCartney & Associates was chosen to inspect and oversee the project at an amount not to exceed $385,000.
City Council approved the construction project in September.
(Click here to see a multi-media presentation for the project.)
Bianchi told City Council in September 860 feet of the existing culvert will be completely replaced. Another 840 feet, will have rehabilitative work done.
“It’s a very big project,” Bianchi told council last fall. “This project has been (in development) for about a year and a half.”
The box culvert (15 feet wide and seven to eight feet deep) is used to move storm water underground. The section in question enters on Third Street near the city’s main fire station at 140 E. Third St. The work will go east to Ashland Road.
The underground system handles Ritter’s Run in the downtown through a series of sandstone tunnels and brick arches. Bianchi said inspections found the culvert in question needs to be replaced.
The city received a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission for the project. The remainder of the project will come from the city’s sewer fund, according to Bianchi.
The project was budgeted in the 2023 sewer fund. The effort to replace and repair the 1905 culvert will complicate travel along East Third Street, according to the engineer.
“When you’re driving into Third Street, you look down, it’s gonna be a mess. It’s gonna be a lot of construction, a lot of heavy equipment, a 15-foot wide culvert is gonna be placed in ground,” he said in September.
