The
P
2013 VISITORS GUIDE, MAY 3-12 INSIDE Schedule | Sponsors | Fun Places to Visit | Black Swamp Bird Observatory How to Get Started in Birding | Festival Schedule | Bird Conservation
Birding Week Schedule See Second Section
April 29, 2013
FREE
RESS
Serving The Eastern Maumee Bay Communities Since 1972
Radabaugh gets 400th win See sports-Second Section M
Birds flock here, so do the birders By Mark Griffin Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com Thousands of birding enthusiasts will flock to Northwest Ohio on May 3-12 for the fourth annual The Biggest Week in American Birding event. The three previous Biggest Week events drew more people than the one before it, and this year’s festival will draw birders not only nationally but from such countries as Panama, Ecuador, Guatemala, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and China. Kim Kaufman, executive director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Oak Harbor, said that’s no accident. “We have put tremendous effort into marketing this area and using a lot of partnerships, like Birds and Bloom magazine, BirdWatching magazine, Bird Watcher’s Digest and Audubon Magazine,” she said. “Last year, we were featured in Spirit Magazine, which is the in-flight magazine for Southwest Airlines. “Nationally and internationally, this festival is becoming one of the top birding festivals in the country. Certainly, word of mouth is a component, but out (BSBO) marketing effort has been reaching a lot of people. We’re including a strong tourism component into our mission.” Kaufman said this year’s theme is “Birding Is For Everyone,” and the event will again include birding workshops and bus trips to various birding locations in Ohio and Michigan. “We had just under 64,000 people here between the end of April and the middle of May last year,” Kaufman said. “I expect that number to continue to increase every year, because it has been. Our marketing efforts are reaching more and more people. “Black Swamp added the new website (biggestweekinamericanbirding.com) this year. We wanted something fresh and new. We’re adding new events and activities that outgrew the reach of the old website. This allows the new website to be treated almost like a blog, where we can add content in a much more fluid way.” The festival headquarters will be Maumee Bay Lodge and Conference Center,
Continued on page 2
Q
uote of The Week
…there does not appear to be a zoning violation with the drainpipe for your sump pump. Gary Kapp See page 4
Top left, at the East Toledo Club meeting, Diana Cheek raises concerns about the bridge. Center left, Dave Geckle, project manager, and Mike Lopez of ODOT, and Theresa Pollick,(bottom left) ODOT, respond to questions. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean). At right, repair work for the Anthony Wayne Bridge will begin this spring. (Press photo by Stephanie Szozda)
ODOT speaks
Official schedule set for closing of High Level Bridge By John Szozda Press General Manager zoz@presspublications.com
Related story Bridge history - page 11
After months of speculation, the Ohio Department of Transportation has released its official construction and closure schedule for the $28.7 million renovation of The Anthony Wayne Bridge, also knows as Toledo High Level Bridge. Theresa Pollick, ODOT spokesperson, and engineers Dave Geckle and Mike Lopez announced the schedule to an estimated crowd of 60 concerned citizens who gathered Thursday at the East Toledo Center at a meeting sponsored by the East Toledo Club. Pollick said bridge traffic will be reduced to one lane each way starting later this spring or early summer continuing until sometime between January and March
of 2014. The bridge will then be closed to all traffic until late 2015. According to a 2010 traffic count study by the Toledo Metropolitan Council of Governments an estimated 28,900 vehicles use the bridge every day. Most of the work to be done this year will be under the bridge with workers placing safety platforms. Next year, the contractor, E.S. Wagner of Oregon, will begin tearing off the deck and the approaches to the bridge. Both approaches will be removed and completely rebuilt with additional piers and two trusses instead of the one large truss in current use at each end. This change is precipitated by what engineers have learned studying the collapse in 2007 of the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge in
Ready. Set. Go!
Find your career path.
Owens is the answer. Classes begin May 20 and June 3. Apply today! • owens.edu
Minneapolis. That disaster plunged a dozen cars into the river, killed 13 and injured more than 140. In addition to reengineering the approaches, workers will replace the deck, sidewalks, railings, fencing and the expansion joints. After the bridge reopens, it will be repainted the familiar blue that has graced the skyline of Toledo since it opened in 1931. The painting will also necessitate lane restrictions. ODOT engineers spent three years, from 2009 to 2012, testing and inspecting various bridge components and have deemed the cables and suspension wires are still in good condition so they will not be replaced, Pollick said. Most of the design changes to make the bridge safer will occur under it. In the end, Pollick said the bridge will look much as it
Continued on page 2