MIAMI, Okla. —
After being closed for more than two years, the East Central Street Bridge in Miami will be replaced using $1 million in federal funding secured by the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.
“It was a thoroughfare for the city of Miami,” said Chief Ethel Cook. “It connects NEO College, Miami High School and is a shorter route to the business district in Miami. It’s a very well used bridge.”
Cook said she believes the bridge replacement will help ease congested traffic on other roads and will also be safer for students who are having to cross other busy streets because of the bridge closing.
The city-owned bridge, which was built in 1967, has been closed since April 2010 because beam ends, bearings and exposed steel were compromised by erosion. The bridge was within the tribe’s jurisdiction, and the state required it to be replaced, Cook said.
The tribe, along with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, received the funds from the Indian Reservation Road Bridge Program for the project. The IRRBP is part of the national federal surface transportation system.
The Ottawa Tribe, city of Miami and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation are working together to replace the bridge. ODOT spokeswoman Kenna Mitchell said the total contract on the project is $1,745,041, and the work will be done by B&B Bridge Co. of St. Paul, Kan. It is slated to be a four-month project that it plans to complete by the end of the year.
“We’re proud to use (American Indian) funding to be able to help where we can,” Cook said. “We’re not just about casinos. We do a lot of other things, too, that puts money back into the city, state and county.”
About 3,000 people across the country are enrolled as members of the tribe, Cook said, and about 500 tribal members live within a 50-mile radius of Miami.
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Ottawa Tribe secures federal funds for new bridge in Miami
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