Christie Soncrant, commissioner of Engineering and Construction Management, told the committee that Ohio Department of Transportation will repair damage to the Detroit Avenue bridge over Interstate 75 at no cost to the city. Soncrant said ODOT will perform required work within City of Toledo limits, including installing a shared-use path to support future multimodal access where currently no dedicated facilities for bicyclists or pedestrians exist. She said work will likely reduce northbound Detroit Avenue to a single lane and is expected to begin in 2026.

Soncrant also presented a request to authorize expenditure of up to $140,000 from the Street Construction, Maintenance and Repair fund to replace and repair decorative lighting and controls on the Anthony Wayne Bridge. She said the programmable LED lighting has experienced partial outages (one earlier due to vandalism and a more recent outage likely tied to a power surge that damaged several controllers). The administration said the lights are controlled by the Arts Commission and that a similar lighting program is being installed on MLK with associated floodlights; MLK controller parts are on back order and expected by early November. The committee advanced both items on consent.

Council members asked for construction timing details for the Detroit Avenue work and asked the administration to verify pedestrian-safety interactions at the interchange today. A councilmember asked whether the Anthony Wayne lighting is decorative only; Soncrant replied it is decorative and that the system is out of warranty.