Photo Provided Bridgeport Exempted Village School District Superintendent Brent Ripley, right, and from left, Assistant Treasurer David Nelson listen as the architect and site supervisor update them on the multipurpose facility to be dubbed “the Bridge” and under construction on campus.

BRIDGEPORT — Bridgeport Exempted Village School District’s multipurpose facility, to be dubbed “The Bridge” is on schedule for the completion date of August 2026 and planners expect the structure to be enclosed by winter.

District officials recently met with architect Ivan Vukcevich of SHP Design and site superintendent Bill Reed of Beaver Construction to take stock of progress and look to the next steps.

Vukcevich and Reed outlined the upcoming phases. School officials have toured the site and observed the walls of the addition are swiftly rising. Reed said steel for the underlying structure of the section that will house classrooms will be arriving early the week of Oct. 27.

“They’ll start setting that steel,” Reed said. He said work will then begin on setting steel in the section that will hold classrooms and health facilities. “Everything’s just going to keep moving from there on up.”

The project is still open to the sky, but Reed said the roof is next on the timeline.

“Thanksgiving is when we’re shooting to start the roof, if not sooner, over in Area A (the classrooms),” he said. The roof installation will continue into the other sections, with the structure to be enclosed by winter.

“We’re looking to even have all the brick done by the time winter gets around. Then we’ll be working inside framing walls, hanging drywalls. We’ll have temporary heaters going in there to keep everything acclimated inside.”

Reed said passersby will notice as the Bridge project picks up pace in the next few weeks.

“They’re going to see some drastic changes once they see the steel go up, because once the steel goes up then the metal stud framing guys will be following up behind them, closing all the walls in on the outside of the building to where it’s actually going to start looking like a physical structure of the building itself.”

The meeting included discussion of the interior signage, with discussion about how the Bulldog logo will feature. Final decisions will be made closer to completion, along with selecting and ordering furniture.

School officials will be coordinating a beam signing, to give all current students and staff the opportunity to sign one or two of the exposed steel beams before they are covered up by the walls. Over 900 students and adults will have the opportunity to make their names a permanent part of the Bridge.

In addition, to forge another link in the chain of history, Bridgeport Exempted Village School District Superintendent Brent Ripley said the district will be taking possession of some pieces of Bridgeport’s heritage, including one of the original mile markers from the Blaine Hill “S” Bridge and two school bells from former schoolhouses as well as a piece of the Bridge from downtown Bridgeport.

“With Bridgeport’s rich history, we want to do something to incorporate these historic pieces. We cannot think of a better way to tie in that history as we move forward with our revamping of our school district,” Ripley said.

Long before breaking ground this past August on the grant-funded addition, the district held intensive planning sessions and invited area stakeholders and the public to contribute their input. When completed, the nearly 31,000 square foot Bridge will house education and training, health services and space for community activity.