Big Mac back in business over the Ohio River
The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge is back in business.
The southbound span of the Big Mac, closed by a catastrophic Nov. 1 fire, reopened at 8:09 p.m. Sunday, the Ohio Department of Transportation announced on social media.
'Open.' said a post on the department's X account.
The reopening, announced on Friday, comes 100 days after the 1000 Hands Playground in Cincinnati's Sawyer Point Park was set ablaze at 3:20 a.m. following Halloween Night.
The fire damaged two sections of Interstate 471 leading to southbound Beard, warping their metal supports and requiring complete replacement.
Workers were able to rebuild the highway nearly a month ahead of schedule with around-the-clock staffing and relatively dry weather.
On Sunday, they added stripes to the new parts of the roadway in the afternoon. Around 8 p.m. they began removing barrels, barricades and signs that kept vehicles from using the bridge since November. Only the entrance from Liberty Street and Reading Road remains closed, as the city of Cincinnati completes a sewer project there.
The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, known as Big Mac because of its shape and color, opened in 1977 at a cost of $24 million. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $126.5 million today.
Ohio puts the repair bill at more than $10 million.
Authorities arrested four people in connection with the fire in December, charging two with aggravated arson and two with obstructing the fire investigation. Court documents in that case estimate the cost of the fire at $13 million – $11 million for highway work and $2 million for Cincinnati property.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Big Mac bridge reopens.
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