T-L Photos/GAGE VOTA The Blaine Hill Bridge renovating and remodeling project by the Ohio Department of Transportation and Beaver Excavating Co. is expected to be completed with the bridge opening on July 1, 2026.

BLAINE — Beaver Excavating Co. and the Ohio Department of Transportation are still making progress with its repair and renovation project of the Blaine Hill Bridge.

ODOT District 11 Public Information Officer Lauren Borell said that, since July, Beaver Excavating Co. has been working on preliminary demolition work on the bridge.

Beaver Excavating has been making preparations on the deck for major demolition work, which includes removing the beams and the concrete from the top of the bridge.

“They are now in full swing with the major demolition,” Borell said.

Since August 1, Borell said, Beaver has set up a crane on site to strategically remove beams and larger sections of the bridge.

“With the geographics of the bridge in the area, it’s a very tight area,” she said. “So, utilizing the crane will help tremendously in the efficiency of the demolition process.”

Borell added that, just last week, Beaver began removing the first beams and have already removed about 10% of the beams since.

“I would say we’re over 60 beams as of right now that have been removed from the bridge,” she said. “The bridge looks very different now. The deck is gone off of the bridge, up to where they can get to all of the box beams.”

Beaver has also removed the concrete siderails of the bridge. Borell said that ODOT is still on schedule for a July 1, 2026, reopening of the bridge.

“The way that they’re doing things definitely adds efficiency to it, to potentially save time on the demolition,” Borell said. “However, you know, that allows days down the road that we might be facing winter weather. So the time will kind of all make up for itself in the long run.”

Last July, ODOT restricted traffic on the Blaine Hill Bridge after the span showed structural issues that caused concern. Originally, ODOT only closed the westbound lanes of the span on U.S. 40 “out of an abundance of caution” while working to address structural deficiencies.

Shortly after the bridge was reduced to eastbound traffic only, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and ODOT received multiple reports of drivers either not understanding or not obeying the posted signs and traveling west in the open eastbound lanes. According to ODOT, “that behavior led to several close calls that could have caused life-threatening traffic collisions.”

Borell added that she expects the beam removal will continue for the next month.

She said once the beams are all removed, Beaver Excavating will then begin reconstructing the bridge.

With the winter season approaching, Borell said that construction will not stop unless inclement weather impairs the construction crew from working.

“Weather permitting, they’ll be working all through the winter. They’ll try to get themselves to a point where they’ve got stuff that they can work on during the winter,” Borrell said.