Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Fairchild Avenue Bridge project slated for June, July finish
Hikers and cyclists eagerly awaiting the opening of Kent's new pedestrian bridge over the Cuyahoga River have a few months yet before they can stand atop the concrete span. The pedestrian bridge, a part of the Fairchild Avenue Bridge project, looks mostly finished where it stands in place of the former Crain Avenue Bridge. Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the bridge and path likely won't open until the entire bridge project, which includes the vehicle bridge and a new park area, is finished some time in June or July. "I don't expect the path to open until the entire project is complete and Beaver Construction has cleaned up and restored the entire area," Bowling said via email. The pedestrian bridge represents the last major element of …
Monday, February 11, 2013
Amphitheater style setting on west bank of Cuyahoga River under construction
New greenspace that will link two of Kent's popular parks is under construction beneath the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge. Workers are building the new park area that occupies a large portion of the west bank of the Cuyahoga River between the new bridge, the new pedestrian bridge under construction and River Edge Park. The park will tie together The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, which will cross the river near Lake Street, with River Edge Park, which spans from the new greenspace south along the river to John Brown Tannery Park where construction was recently finished on a new section of The Portage trail. The stepped amphitheater style space is being created with sandstones that formed the base of the old Crain Avenue Bridge, which was …
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Franklin Mills River Edge Park
Gougler Avenue, Kent, Oh
/articles/new-greenspace-under-fairchild-bridge-taking-shape
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Thursday, November 1, 2012
Bicyclists and pedestrians will have to use new bridge to access trail near intersection of Lake and North Water streets
Cyclists looking to access the section of The Portage Hike and Bike Trail that spans from Lake Street to Lake Rockwell Road will not be able to jump on the trail in Kent from the east side of the Cuyahoga River. The new pedestrian bridge under construction as part of the Fairchild Avenue Bridge project will link directly to the existing trail, which dead-ends next to Weiss Motors and Knapp's Collision and the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway tracks. Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the railroad would not permit a new crossing of the train tracks to allow direct access to the bike trail for pedestrians and cyclists. "They don’t care if it’s a sidewalk, bike path or a street," Bowling said. "We had one crossing before (construction). They …
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Weiss Motors and Knapp's Collision
101 E Crain Ave, Kent, OH
/articles/no-trail-connection-from-lake-street-to-the-portage
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
New pedestrian bridge, sidewalks and other details to be finished in 2013
The $25 million Fairchild Avenue Bridge project will enter its sixth year before the last worker leaves the construction site. The finish date for the massive project, which reroutes several of Kent's busiest intersections, originally projected for December of this year has been pushed back several months. City and state officials are anticipating a spring 2013 finish, at the earliest, to a project that entered the design phase in November 2007. Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said the Ohio Department of Transportation, which manages Federal Stimulus Act dollars and other aspects of the project, recently extended its contract with the firm managing the actual construction, Canton-based Beaver Excavating. "We're not on the original schedule…
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
After three years of construction for Fairchild Bridge, life is finally returning to normal for motorists and area businesses.
The pesky orange barrels and huge signs that have seemed a permanent part of the S.R. 43 landscape near the Fairchild Avenue Bridge are finally going away after three long years of construction. All lanes of S.R. 43, or North Mantua Street, are expected to reopen today as the project moves into its final stages. That should be a big relief for the 23,000 motorists that drive through the intersection daily (according to 2009 traffic data from AMATS). That also means the left-turn traffic signal allowing vehicles access to the new Fairchild bridge from southbound S.R. 43 will be restored. Kent Police officers have issued hundreds of tickets to drivers making an illegal turn at the intersection. Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling said Tuesday …
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
191 tickets issued by Kent Police in May for illegal turn
Kent cops are keeping a watchful eye on the intersection of North Mantua Street and Fairchild Avenue, and the number of tickets issued there shows it. The police department announced officers wrote 191 tickets to drivers making an illegal turn at city intersections, and most were issued to drivers making the prohibited left turn from the southbound lane of S.R. 43 onto the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge. That's almost double the 106 tickets issued in April for the same violation. "You might not always see us, but we are out there enforcing the law," the department announced on its website. The total number of illegal turn tickets in Kent break down by month as follows: Turn Violation Tickets (citywide) Just 41 tickets total were issued in …
Monday, June 18, 2012
Massive steel beams delivered for bridge that will replace old Crain Avenue Bridge
Soon pedestrians and bicyclists will have their own dedicated bridge to cross the Cuyahoga River near Crain Avenue. Steel beams were delivered and assembled this morning for the pedestrian-only bridge that will cross the river parallel to the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge. The bridge will extend The Portage Hike and Bike Trail from where it ends at Crain Avenue west across the river. The entire project, which included the new car bridge and redesigning several intersections, is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.
Bridge will span Cuyahoga River for pedestrians, bicyclists in location of old Crain Avenue Bridge
Thousands of pounds of steel was delivered and bolted together this morning to shape the new pedestrian bridge that will stand in place of the old Crain Avenue Bridge.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Change part of Fairchild Avenue Bridge construction work
Traffic on S.R. 43 (North Mantua Street) will shift from one side of the road to the other starting Wednesday. The city will move the two lanes of traffic, one southbound and one northbound lane, from the eastern side of the road to the western side of the road in order to finish paving work related to the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge. Also starting Wednesday, Stinaff and Cuyahoga streets will reopen at S.R. 43. These changes are expected to last through August. Also, the prohibited left turn onto the new bridge will remain in effect through August.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Violators of the left-turn prohibition onto new Fairchild Avenue Bridge are racking up the tickets for the police department
If you think the Kent Police Department isn't enforcing the prohibited left turn onto the new Fairchild Avenue Bridge, think again. Data obtained from the police department by Kent Patch show officers have strictly enforced the no left turn for southbound drivers on S.R. 43 looking to turn onto the new bridge since April. So far this year, the police department has issued a total 314 tickets to drivers making illegal turns at intersections. Of those tickets, 304 were issued for violations at the intersection of Fairchild Avenue and North Mantua Street (S.R. 43), according to Kent Police. However, Kent Police Capt. Jayme Cole said not all of the tickets were necessarily issued to drivers for making the illegal left turn onto the bridge from…
Guillaume
1:25 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Too bad Beaver didn't spend more time figuring how deep the set the tunnel under the car bridge. Its at least a foot or two too high. The project as a whole should be really nice when completed, though. more ›