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Paint Bids Sought for Historic Bridge

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Sandusky County, OH, will accept bids May 17 for cleaning and recoating of the historic (and reportedly haunted) Tindall Bridge over the Sandusky River—a contract estimated at more than $1.1 million.

The county has issued a separate bid request for construction inspection services, including NACE-certified coating inspectors, on the project.

bridgehunter.com / Janis Ford (large); historicbridges.org / Phil Thompson (inset)

Built in 1915 by the Champion Iron Company, the two-span riveted steel through-truss bridge is 334 feet long and 16 feet wide. The structure, also known as the Sandusky River CR 209 Bridge, was last painted in 1989.

Scope of Work

This project involves cleaning and recoating all structural steel surfaces on the one-lane bridge, which has a posted weight limit of 25 tons.

The steel will be abrasive blast-cleaned to SSPC-SP 10 (near white) and recoated with an organic zinc-rich primer, an epoxy intermediate, and a urethane finish. Painting must conform to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Item 514 Specifications, and containment will be required.

historicbridges.com / Phil Thompson

A 2011 inspection rated the deck, superstructure and substructure as satisfactory but gave the bridge a sufficiency rating of 46.5 out of 100.

County officials have estimated the cost of the project at $1,182,500.

Inspections in January 2011 rated the condition of the deck, superstructure and substructure as satisfactory and gave the bridge an overall sufficiency rating of 46.5 out of 100.

Ghost Story

The Tindall Bridge carries some ghostly baggage. Supposedly, the structure is haunted, although accounts of the haunter vary. Most say the bridge is plagued by the ghost of a murder victim from the 1950s, who roams the area and cries for help. A variation of the story says the cries come from a mother searching for her deceased child.

The Pittsburgh-based Center for Paranormal Study and Investigation, a private group, launched a “paranormal investigation” of the bridge in March 2010. However, its stakeout produced no recordings of cries and no photos, so the group said it was “not able to confirm, or debunk, any part of the haunting that purportedly occurs here.”

Reported by Paint BidTracker, a construction reporting service devoted to identifying contracting opportunities for the coatings community. Visit us on Facebook!