NAPOLEON, Ohio — A new way to travel across the Maumee River was dedicated Tuesday in Henry County.
"It opens up a second bridge, which we need for safety personnel, for school buses, for all of the trucks that go through town," said Henry County Commissioner Bob Hastedt.
For decades, the city of Napoleon has only had one Maumee River crossing. And now after years of planning, a second bridge has been completed, connecting Napoleon's Industrial Drive north of the river with State Rt. 110 on the south.
The new crossing will now be the primary route for all industrial traffic, keeping large vehicles out of Napoleon's downtown.
"If you're standing there and there's semis going through there every three minutes, that's disrupting to anything," Hastedt said. "So basically, without that it's going to be a lot nicer. And I know it's going to take a little bit of time."
ODOT District 2 Deputy Director Pat McColley said the bridge is a welcomed addition to town.
"This really helps economic development, but it also keeps those vehicles and those trucks more properly locate in an industrial area instead of commercial and residential area," he said.
The $10 million project was funded with local and federal funding. A public contest to name the new bridge was held online, and the winning name is the Liberty Bridge.
And for ODOT, it is a rare project that will alleviate traffic congestion for additional safety and offers a second route across the river for first responders.
"As far as actually building a new bridge, this probably hasn't happened in decades, it might have even been 30 or 40 years," McColley said. "We're usually replacing infrastructure, but when the need does exist, that's when we start looking at adding infrastructure as well."
While the bridge is completed and now dedicated, there's still a couple small details to finish up.
The new Liberty Bridge will be fully opened to traffic sometime later this week.