Rejoice, Cincinnati. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (better known as the Big Mac Bridge) is reopening this weekend — exactly 100 days after a fire damaged the structure and weeks ahead of its predicted repair schedule.
The Big Mac Bridge on I-471 shut down on Nov. 1 after a fire spread from a wooden playground at Sawyer Point to the bridge, damaging several steel beams as well as a portion of the bridge deck and a sign truss on the southbound side. The fire briefly closed both sides of the bridge; the northbound lanes reopened quickly, but the southbound side remained closed for repairs, snarling traffic on both sides of the river for months.
Four people — Terry Stiles, Zachary Stumpf, James Hamilton and Kaitlen Hall — have been charged in the fire. Stiles and Stumpf allegedly started the fire and have been charged with aggravated arson. Hamilton and Hall were charged with obstructing the investigation.
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On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) said repairs on the Big Mac Bridge were almost complete and the southbound lanes are expected to reopen Sunday evening.
“Reopening southbound access to this bridge in just over three months is a tremendous accomplishment,” DeWine said in a press release. “The closure of these lanes wasn’t only an inconvenience, but also a disruption to the supply chain. I applaud our ODOT team and their partners for working hard to finish the project ahead of schedule.”
Crews are now putting the finishing touches on the bridge, including grinding and grooving the deck, final welding below the expansion joint seal and pavement striping. ODOT will announce the exact reopening time on social media about an hour before barricades are removed.
ODOT, Great Lakes Construction, more than two dozen sub-contractors and others worked together to design the bridge’s demolition and reconstruction, fabricate the materials and manage traffic during repairs.
“Emergency projects require a lot of very quick action and around-the-clock work,” said ODOT Director Pamela Boratyn. “I am extremely proud of the efforts put in to getting this bridge and highway fully reopened.”
This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.
