ASHTABULA — Crews will work 10-hour shifts, six days this week to get the historical harbor lift bridge lowered by Dec. 18, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation said Monday.

Eric Czetli, ODOT District 4 deputy director, and construction engineer Phil Crish came to town last week and promised to lower the 83-year-old bridge and to leave it down for about a month. This move would give the Bridge Street merchants a week of the Christmas shopping season and a few weeks beyond. Czetli also promised to do a better job of communicating ODOT’s progress with the public.

“The contractor will work with additional ironworkers dedicated to the critical mechanical work, if necessary,” said Paula Putnam, public information officer for District 4.

As for equipment, the contractor has all new shims on-site, as well as enough bushings to begin the work on one side of the gear assembly.

All bushings should be on site by the end of this week, Putnam said, noting all electrical components are on site and are being installed.

The reassembly of one side of the gear train began Monday, and the other side should begin Wednesday upon delivery, she said.

“Possibly by the end of the week the shimming of the pillow blocks will be complete,” she said. “Once all the shimming is complete, the gear assembly can be disassembled to allow the transfer punch and drilling of the additional support plate holes.”

This work is anticipated to happen next week.

The subcontractor is wiring all new electrical components, Putnam said.

“Once the wiring is completed, he has to test all the electrical systems,” she said. “The testing is scheduled for the week of Nov. 24.”

The approach slab on the west side of the bridge is scheduled to be poured today, Putnam said.

The barrier gates and vertical resistance barrier should arrive today and installation will begin later this week, she said.

With the bridge down, harbor merchants hope to garner holiday shopping dollars and the Lights on the Lake committee hopes it will boost traffic through their show at Lake Shore Park.

In mid-January 2009, the bridge will go up again to allow workers to align and balance it, and then, it would come down until spring. That’s when it will go up for final painting and some roadwork.

Crish said the goal is to have all of the work completed by June 1.