Lazelle Road Roadway and Water Main Improvements

Columbus, Ohio

This engineering project involved final design to improve the Lazelle Road corridor from west of Flint Road (as needed for lane addition tapers and vertical realignment) to Sancus Boulevard, including improvements to the intersections of Lazelle Road with Flint Road and South Old State Road and replacement of the railroad underpassess. As a subconsultant to Gannett-Fleming, American Structurepoint was responsible for bridge design, retaining wall design (soldier pile and lagging, tangent pile, and cast-in-place concrete, right-of-way documents, roundabout peer review, and water line design. The new roadway sections include new curb and gutter and a closed storm sewer system.

Bridge design included superstructure design for replacing the Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX railroad bridges (79') over the roadway. The CSX bridge is a single-track through girder and the NS is a two-track, deck girder bridge. Instead of using temporary structures to maintain rail traffic, the bridge structures were built in between the existing structure and used to maintain traffic while the existing structure was removed and the new foundations and abutments were built. Construction on this difficult-to-access site challenged the designers more than typical railroad bridge projects. Using detailed phasing was key to smooth progress while keeping traffic flowing on Lazelle Road and rail freight moving above it.

Traffic was maintained during construction by using temporary pavement and marked detours. Phase 1 and 3 maintained traffic in both directions during construction. Phase 2 used a 1-lane, one-way traffic for Lazelle Road eastbound traffic and a detour for Lazelle Road westbound traffic.

Rain gardens were used for best management practices. Curb cuts were added to allow the surface water to reach the rain garden. Any overflow water was captured and returned to the system via an overflow structure in the rain garden.

Sections of the existing city of Columbus and Del-Co water lines were replaced to accommodate the new closed storm sewer system and the lowering of Lazelle Road as well as Flint Street to meet vertical clearance requirements under the bridges. The overall water main design was essentially comprised of pipes from 6-inch to 16-inch with an aggregate length of 2,829 lft. The water main design also included new fire hydrants, valves, fittings, and other appurtenances.

Right-of-way documents include the preparation of right-of-way plans and legal descriptions compliant with ODOT standards and that meet the conveyance requirements for both Delaware County and Franklin County. The right-of-way plans included the preparation of railroad plats for two separate railroad owners within the project and the preparation of detailed plan sheets for multiple alignments and a roundabout. Consulting work included preparing approximately 65 legal descriptions for warranty deed takes, permanent, and temporary easements.