On Feb. 5, the last truck load of demolition debris was removed from the former River Valley Hospital site, leaving only the memories of a hospital that served the Ironton/Lawrence County Community so well for 63 years.

Times change and change can only be dealt with by moving forward. In this situation, thanks to Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital and the Clean Ohio Fund, a once proud but recently deteriorating building is now gone, soon to be replaced by a neighborhood of stylish new homes.

The scope and the complexity of the demolition far exceeded our initial expectations. The first challenge was the removal of 360 cubic yards of asbestos. The fact that most of the asbestos was in areas difficult to access made the job tedious requiring five months of labor from a 14 member crew.

Tearing down the building was easy compared to the removal of the massive footers that supported its older sections and the elevator shafts.

In total the demolition of the building generated 90 truck loads of solid waste and more than 900 truck loads of demolition debris.

Backfilling and re-grading the site required more than 8,000 cubic yards of fill dirt.

Most of the property’s sidewalks have been reconstructed and all curbs that were cut have been replaced.

On behalf of the Ironton Port Authority, I would first like to thank the area neighbors for their cooperation and support.

Second, we could not have pursued or managed the project without our joint project partner the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization.

The project has been well served by the general contractor J& L Management Corp and by Burgess and Niple, the project’s environmental contractor.

Finally, I would like to extend a special thank you to Dennis Johnson, project manager, for his overall professional approach to the project and to John Hitchcock for his fine work as the concrete contractor,

Many thanks also to the truckers, equipment operators and all others who participated in this project.

Again thank you for a job well done.

Bill Dickens

Member,

Ironton Port Authority