The Ohio Department of Transportation announced plans on Wednesday to repair I-471 

The Ohio Department of Transporation (ODOT) has announced that the southbound lanes of I-471 are expected to reopen in March 2025. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, or the Big Mac Bridge, was damaged in a fire early in the morning on November 1 around 3:30 a.m. The Cincinnati Fire Department still hasn’t announced the cause of the fire. 

Because of significant damage to steel beams caused by the fire that was started at the 1,000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park, demolition is necessary before beginning repairs. The plan for removing just the concrete deck is 224 pages long and details everything from where cuts should be made to where equipment should be placed and how to safely offload weight from the warped deck, according to a press release from ODOT. 

The demolition on the bridge will begin on Friday, November 29 and is expected to take three weeks. After demolition is complete, repairs will begin. 

Kathleen Fuller, a spokesperson for ODOT, said Wednesday morning that the timeline is an “extremely” quick one, and that traditionally a project with the same demands could take up to three years to complete. 

ODOT will be paying for the emergency repair project, thanks to an emergency declaration signed by Governor Mike DeWine, according to the press release. ODOT will pursue reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Relief Program, but the final cost of the project will be known when all work is complete. 

The closing of I-471 southbound has caused significant changes to traffic, according to a report from WCPO. 33,000 vehicles have been added to nearby bridge traffic after the fire, which is equivalent to the traffic caused by a sold-out Cincinnati Bengals game letting out every day at rush hour on nearby bridge. The northbound lanes of I-471 have remained open.