Flammable items are still stored underneath some Hamilton County bridges, despite the devastating fire that occurred below the Daniel Carter Beard (or Big Mac) Bridge just over a year ago, which resulted in a 100-day closure.The WCPO 9 I-Team toured interstate and highway bridges and discovered combustible items stored underneath: wooden pallets, tires, mattresses, piles of trash, homeless encampments with evidence of fire, tractor-trailers and a dumpster containing used cooking oil.Im surprised and not surprised, said Casey Jones, a Kansas City-based engineer who featured the Big Mac Bridge fire on his YouTube channel. Whats it going to look like 10 years from now? Jones asked. If theres some degree of complacency or  inability to follow through and clean these areas up, its likely only to get worse over time.  The I-Team toured many of the same sites in December 2024 and then discovered the City of Cincinnati was storing wood guardrail posts, wood form boards, unmarked buckets, barrels of substances and wood pallets under the U.S. 127 bridge over I-75 and Mill Creek, near the Environmental Health Department.After the I-Team contacted the city in 2024, its crews removed the items. A year later, the site is still clear.WATCH: The WCPO I-Team brought findings to an ODOT spokesperson. Here's what she said Why are flammable items still stored underneath the Big Mac Bridge?But the I-Team discovered combustible items stored beneath historically problematic sites during visits on Jan. 21 and 22.The Ohio Department of Transportation has been worried about some of these bridges for years, such as the I-75 bridge over Benson Street in Lockland, where a restaurant and business on either side of the bridge have been repeatedly warned against storing flammable, explosive or hazardous items. When the WCPO I-Team visited this site on Jan. 21, a Buffalo Biodiesel dumpster of used cooking oil was stored under the bridge. We brought our findings directly to ODOT.Thats a fire hazard right there that needed to be removed immediately, said Kathleen Fuller, a spokesperson for ODOT District 8. When we saw the photo, our project manager ... asked the owners to remove that, which they did. They complied.ODOT is doing a bridge rehabilitation project on I-75 through the Lockland Split. Contractors have already begun to store construction equipment and other items under that bridge, including tanks that appear to contain diesel and propane. But Fuller said the tanks are empty. Crews inspect nearly 1,400 bridges annually across seven counties in southwest Ohio for safety and document what's stored beneath.Following the Big Mac Bridge fire ... thats like the number one thing were mostly concerned about, are fires, Fuller said.The bridge was severely damaged on Nov. 1, 2024, after a playground at Sawyer Point Park, beneath the bridge, caught fire overnight and burned for hours. It was large and hot enough to warp some of the steel beams supporting the bridge.The fire caused extensive damage that cost at least $10 million to repair. The bridge was closed for 100 days, resulting in massive traffic delays. Four people were convicted for their roles in what happened the night of the fire. ODOT inspectors often struggle to get property owners to remove flammable materials from under bridges, frequently requiring multiple, increasingly urgent warning letters to get compliance.We are not an enforcement agency, so our hands are kind of tied at times, Ill be honest, said Fuller.This is especially true when ODOT doesnt own the land and only has an easement for bridge inspections and repairs. While ODOT frequently fences off its own land to prevent encampments, illegal dumping, and fire hazards, securing privately owned land under bridges is far more challenging. If its something that is highly flammable, highly suspicious we will take those steps to make sure they are removed immediately, and if that means calling in law enforcement we will certainly call them, Fuller said.But ODOT can't levy fines to force compliance.All we can do is work with the law enforcement and ask them to assist us, Fuller said. If we dont own the property and we just have the easement to it, that kind of ties our hands a little bit more.The Federal Highway Administration urged state bridge inspectors to watch out for flammable material stored beneath bridges after a fire on the Santa Monica Freeway in 2023 and sent photos of what caught on fire. The I-Team discovered some of the same highly combustible items underneath Cincinnati bridges in 2024 and again a few weeks ago.ODOT inspectors emailed the city in August 2025, asking for the removal of enclosed homeless encampments under bridges carrying U.S. 50 over Gest Street, which were hindering inspection and creating a fire hazard.When the I-Team visited the site on Jan. 21, it discovered numerous homeless encampments with evidence of a past fire and gasoline being stored with bedding and personal items. We notified the city about this, Fuller said.When the I-Team returned to the site nearly two weeks later, the homeless encampments were gone. ODOT also has repeated issues with long-term parking of tractor-trailers under bridges. They carry fuel. They have diesel fuel in them. They could be flammable, Fuller said.  There are always trucks stored under the bridge on the north side of Dalton Ave., ODOT structures planning engineer Brandon Collett wrote in a November 17, 2023, email to bridge inspectors laying out concerns about bridge fires in Hamilton County.There is an agreement that allows them to use it for parking, but prohibits storage of materials, flammable substances, fueling trucks, etc. My concerns here are that we dont know what is in their trucks, and weve had to notify them more than once for storing materials, including a huge amount of steel spools, Collett wrote. If we think about revoking their agreement (which the agreement allows), we would need to put up a fence. When the I-Team visited the site again on Jan. 21, multiple tractor-trailer trucks were still parked under the bridge at Dalton Avenue.The I-Team alerted ODOT, and when we returned two weeks later, most of the trucks had been moved.You dont know what kind of materials are going to be placed in there. You have potential fire from the tractor or the trailer itself, Jones said. You wouldnt allow it on your property, and this is public property. You dont see empty tractor-trailers parked behind the courthouse. But fire isnt the only worry for ODOT inspectors.A recent inspection of the HAM-50-1903 bridges that carry US 50 over two railroad tracks and Mill Creek has once again found steel coils stored under our bridge up against the foundations. This is the third time in the last year, and at least the fifth time we found this here. Each one of the steel coils weighs over 23,000 lbs This can cause cracking/failure of the footings, settlement of the friction piling, and/or rotation or differential settlement of the pier, Collett wrote in a Nov. 12, 2025, email to his ODOT colleagues.A week later, transportation engineer Kristen Stacklin sent an email to Josh Cahill at TPG Noramco/Noramco Transport, If these materials are yours, you are requested to immediately remove this stockpile from under the bridges These steel coils contribute a significant amount of excess loading to the foundations of these bridges. This extra loading, which was not part of the original design, increases the bearing load on the soil and could contribute to settlement at the piers or even failure of the bridge foundations. The next day, Cahill sent an email back to ODOT, confirming all materials had been removed.When the I-Team visited the site on Jan. 22, it found steel coils under a railroad bridge, near piers, and in another location where the coils were in an open space. We also found a large pile of wood remnants under the highway bridge.Cahill did not respond to a request for comment.Everything has already been addressed, or it will be very soon, Fuller said of the bridge sites the I-Team brought to ODOTs attention. Were just going to continue reaching out to the owners of the property or the materials that have been stored, left behind, or dumped underneath the bridge. Thats why it helps to do the story, Fuller said. Were hoping that the people see this and realize were serious, we want you to remove it and be mindful of it and dont bring anything back. Dont put it back under the structure.Anyone who sees flammable, hazardous, or explosive items stored underneath bridges can report it to ODOT at transportation.ohio.gov/feedback and provide the location. ...read more read less