The city of Steubenville and the Ohio Department of Transportation continue to butt heads over the demolition of the Ft. Steuben Bridge.

Steubenville Mayor Domenick Mucci is growing more frustrated as the deadline approaches and mitigation seems to be going nowhere.

With the demolition of the bridge, the Steubenville marina must be temporarily shut down. By law, ODOT must give the city of Steubenville compensation for the closure. The problem, Mayor Mucci said, is that the offer is unacceptable.

ODOT said that closures to the marina will be limited to a few days and demolition will take place in the winter. The city of Steubenville believes that the presence of the demolition crews will deter people from the facility for much longer and will compromise the safety of boaters and others using the facility.

ODOT is offering the city $50,000, an offer that they have repeatedly said is fair and reasonable. Mucci said that he has no idea how this figure was derived.

The city was unaware of a phone conference that took place between ODOT and the Federal Highway Administration, which concluded that $50,000 was sufficient.

“Without a doubt I’m frustrated,” said Mucci. “Realizing the fact that they are going to remove it and assisting with the removal process and attending the public hearings and all, we are asking for fair and comparable consideration or compensation to improving our marina.”

Steubenville City Council sent a resolution to ODOT, along with a petition signed by many users of the marina, asking for a more reasonable compensation.

The demolition project is set to move forward by Oct. 10. If both sides cannot reach a settlement, the mitigation may be placed in federal hands.

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