Sheldon Road Bridge

Euthenics led a multidisciplinary team providing surveying, basemapping, environmental, geotechnical, hydraulic, roadway, bridge, utility, right-of-way, and construction-phase engineering services for the replacement of the Sheldon Road (CR 131) Bridge over Abram Creek. The project also included raising the roadway profile and fully reconstructing Sheldon Road in the cities of Brook Park and Middleburg Heights. The improvements were developed to address recurring flooding from Abram Creek, which periodically made the roadway impassable to the public and emergency responders for extended periods. Euthenics coordinated the design with both municipalities, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works, Cleveland Water, and private utility owners. The existing crossing consisted of a 1934 cast-in-place, reinforced concrete rigid-frame bridge with a 20-foot clear span, two travel lanes, and a sidewalk along the north side. Euthenics evaluated bridge-opening and roadway profile alternatives using field survey, LiDAR data, previous hydrologic studies, geotechnical exploration, and one-dimensional HEC-RAS modeling of the 25, 50, and 100-year storm events. The preferred alternative combines a substantially larger bridge opening with a roadway profile set above the modeled 100-year water-surface elevation to improve conveyance and corridor reliability. Geotechnical investigations included 23 new soil borings, evaluation of 12 previous borings, cone penetration testing, laboratory testing, foundation recommendations, settlement analyses, and construction recommendations. Because the roadway is underlain by soft organic soils including a compressible peat layer, Euthenics incorporated lightweight expanded-polystyrene geofoam into the roadway embankment. This approach reduces loading on the underlying soils and limits the settlement risks associated with conventional earth embankment construction. The replacement structure is a single-span, composite prestressed-concrete box-beam bridge with a 60-foot bearing-to-bearing span. Its reinforced concrete abutments are supported by driven HP12x53 steel piles, and the bridge has a 40-foot-4-inch-wide deck. The structure accommodates two 11-foot travel lanes and a 10-foot sidewalk, along with architecturally treated concrete parapets, twin steel-tube railings, and decorative bridge lighting. Euthenics designed and coordinated extensive utility relocations, including buried fiber optic facilities, 4-inch gas mains along both sides of the roadway embankment, utility poles, and 12-inch and 30-inch water mains. The utility work also included a 10-inch sanitary sewer connecting an existing pump station to NEORSD's 48-inch sanitary interceptor to allow for abandonment of the pump station. Where utilities crossed Abram Creek or adjacent wetlands, the design used boring, jacking, or directional drilling methods to minimize environmental impact. Environmental and water permitting services included wetland and stream impact documentation; floodplain permits for Brook Park and Middleburg Heights; Ohio EPA Notice of Intent and Permit-to-Install coordination; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit coordination; Section 106 review; cofferdam and in-stream construction planning; restoration of temporary fill areas; and erosion and sediment control design. Permitted impacts included approximately 0.080 acre of permanent wetland impact, 0.007 acre of permanent stream impact, 0.052 acre of temporary wetland impact, and 0.008 acre of temporary stream impact. Euthenics also prepared right-of-way plans, legal descriptions and closure calculations, traffic-control and detour plans, construction sequencing, temporary parking and access measures for a dog park within the project limits, signing and pavement-marking plans, lighting plans, construction cost estimates, final construction documents, and construction-phase engineering support. Through close coordination of structural, roadway, hydraulic, geotechnical, environmental, utility, and property needs, Euthenics delivered an integrated design that replaces aging infrastructure, improves flood resilience, and strengthens a critical transportation connection for the surrounding communities.