The Ohio Dept. of Transportation last month wrapped up repairs to dozens of bowed and corroded steel gusset plates on Cleveland’s Inner Belt Bridge a crossing with a 2,722-long steel-truss main span of similar design to Minnesota’s collapsed Interstate 35W bridge. The $2-million repair job will now be followed by an expedited planning process for a $140-million deck replacement.

Gusset plates have come under renewed scrutiny throughout the country because they may have been a major factor in the collapse of the I-35W bridge. During an annual inspection last fall, ODOT engineers using an ultrasonic thickness gauge discovered a disparity of thickness in the gussets. Some of the 34 plates had bowed by as much as 7⁄16  in., while others had eroded from 1⁄2 in. thick to as little as 1⁄8 in. thick.

Consequently, ODOT banned the heaviest tractor-trailers from the Inner Belt Bridge, which crosses downtown and normally handles 110,000 vehicles per day, says ODOT spokesperson Jocelynn Clemings. The Ruhlin Co., Sharon Center, Ohio, began work last November on the approximately $2-million repair project to reinforce the plates.

The inspection allowed engineers to determine that the nearly 5,000-ft long, 116-ft-wide bridge, not quite 50 years old, is aging faster than expected, ODOT Director James Beasley said last year. Under original planning, construction of a new bridge would have begun no sooner than 2011, with the current bridge remaining in service without major repairs until 2014. Planning now will begin immediately to address the bridge deck, a deficient drainage system and supporting members for the outside lanes, ODOT says.