Timelapse video shows fire under Daniel Carter Beard Bridge
A surveillance camera near a pickle ball court captured the moments in the massive fire under the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge.
- A year-ago fire under the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge led to a 100-day closure.
- Ohio spent nearly $8.7 million on bridge repairs, while Cincinnati will spend about $2 million to replace a destroyed playground.
- Four suspects were arrested in connection with the fire, with one sentenced to up to 13.5 years in prison for arson.
Ohio spent close to $8.7 million to reopen the Daniel Carter Beard bridge over the Ohio River following the catastrophic year-ago fire that closed the bridge for 100 days.
The city of Cincinnati will be spending about $2 million more to replace the playground under the bridge, destroyed by the fire.
That $10.7 million price tag – which does not include the cost of city, county or state employees, some of whom continue to manage fire-related work – is less than an earlier estimate of $13 million.
But whatever the amount, taxpayers are the ones footing the bills.
“It’s unfortunately just part of doing business,” said Matt Bruning, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation. “We have to absorb that.”
Fire brings 4 arrests, 100 days of disruption
Cincinnati fire officials were called to the base the Beard bridge at 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2024.
That’s where fire erupted around 3 a.m. at the 1000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park along the river.
The Ohio Department of Transportation immediately closed the bridge, reopening the northbound side that night and later saying the southbound lanes would remain closed until mid-March. Even though Kentucky owns the bridge, Ohio took the lead because the fire damaged Interstate 471 on the Ohio side of the river rather than the bridge itself.
By Dec. 11, Cincinnati officials had arrested four suspects in connection with the fire, with county officials taking the four to court.
On Feb. 9, 100 days after the fire, the state reopened the bridge in full, ahead of the March target.
That chronology is now part of the history of the Beard bridge, named for the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, opened in 1976, and nicknamed the Big Mac for a shape and color that resemble McDonald’s iconic “M.” It cost $14 million then – what would be close to $75 million in 2025 dollars.
ODOT spent $8.7 million, before staff expenses
Ohio’s transportation department brought on Great Lakes Construction Co. of Hinckley, Ohio, to manage the repair work.
Working with more than two dozen subcontractors, Great Lakes demolished and replaced two sections of I-471’s bridge deck, along with warped steel beams. Contractors also repaired about 70 feet of damaged wall on the northbound side of the interstate.
The state paid Great Lakes close to $6.8 million, part of which went to subcontractors. It paid another $1.2 million for a painting contractor, $433,000 in engineering and other consulting fees, and $286,000 for inspections.
The state’s $8.7 million bill does not include what it paid ODOT employees diverted to the Beard project.
Its communication staff, as one example, produced close to four dozen press releases over 100 days with bridge-related updates.
Lead suspect now serving time in Ohio prison
Some costs of the bridge disaster are harder to quantify.
That includes work by the Cincinnati Fire Department to investigate the case, Cincinnati Police Department to arrest the suspects, and Hamilton County courts and prosecutor’s office to try them. It also includes costs absorbed by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to jail one of the convicted suspects.
The suspects who created those costs include:
- James Hamilton and Kaitlen Hall, who both pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the case. Each was sentenced to probation and community service.
- Zachary Stumpf, who pleaded guilty to obstructuring justice and was sentenced to three years of probation.
- Terry Stiles, who admitted to one count of arson and one count of aggravated arson. He earned a sentence of nine to 13 ½ years in prison. Now 40, Stiles began serving time at Noble Correction Institution in the eastern Ohio town of Caldwell on June 11.
Prosecutors said Stiles and Stumpf set the fire, with Hall providing transportation. The three had been driving around the area that night, looking for scooters to steal, prosecutors said earlier. Hamilton was not present for the fire, but attempted to help the other suspects evade arrest, attorneys said.
Replacement of 1000 Hands Playground will include public, private funds
Fire-related costs also include $1.9 million to $2.1 million to replace the 21-year-old 1000 Hands Playground destroyed in the fire. Between $600,000 and $700,000 of that will go to playground equipment.
Cincinnati Parks Foundation will raise an unknown portion of those dollars, with the city covering the balance.
The Cincinnati Parks board OK’d a $50,000 down payment for the project in May, with parks officials bringing on Midstates Recreation of Pataskala, Ohio, to design it.
Parks officials will release a preliminary design for public feedback soon, spokesman Rocky Merz said. A final design should be complete early next year, he said.
The new playground will cover 11,000 to 14,000 square feet, to be installed east of the 1000 Hands site and south of the volleyball, tennis and pickleball courts at Sawyer Point.
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