Contractors for a new bridge planned between Wellsburg and Brilliant have chosen a type of bridge similar to the Fort Henry Bridge in Wheeling.
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — The Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission on Wednesday learned the contractor for the new Ohio River bridge has proposed a tied arch design for the span.
Waseem Khalifa, Ohio Department of Transportation District 11 bridge engineer, said Flatiron Constructors Inc. of Bloomfield, Colo., announced the design plans at a meeting with ODOT and West Virginia Department of Transportation officials.
Such bridges have been called bowstring spans because they consist of an overhead arch and deck that resemble a bow being drawn to shoot an arrow.
Examples of tied arch spans include the Moundsville Bridge, the Fort Henry Bridge in Wheeling and Pittsburgh’s Fort Pitt Bridge, which was the first computer-designed span of its type.
Khalifa said there’s room for variance in the new bridge’s overall appearance, and Flatiron Constructors will be working with engineers to submit a formal design for state highway officials’ approval.
He said tied arch spans can be constructed offsite and the contractor plans to build the main structure elsewhere and transport it by barge to the bridge site. He said construction is expected to start in spring 2018, with completion eyed for spring 2021.
Khalifa said ODOT is working to secure rights of way for the span’s Ohio abutment while the contractor will be responsible for obtaining rights of way on the West Virginia side.
The estimated $131 million span will extend from an area about a mile south of Wellsburg to Third and Cleaver streets in Brilliant.
In 1998, BHJ named a new Ohio River bridge its top transportation priority, citing the advancing ages of the Market Street and Fort Steuben bridges — the latter since demolished. The commission concluded the U.S. 22 Veterans Memorial Bridge wouldn’t be adequate to serve projected traffic levels.
The second priority was improving access to the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Crews with Shelly and Sands have been working for months to create new lanes aligning University Boulevard with the bridge as well as improving the Ohio 7 exit lanes to the boulevard.
The $9.9 million project will include replacement of the short turn lane from Ohio 7 at the foot of the boulevard with a 900-foot-long lane extending from an area near Garfield Elementary School and through the property once occupied by the Ohio Valley Steelworker statue to a new traffic signal on the south side of University Boulevard.
Khalifa said it appears issues with the lane passing under a Norfolk-Southern Railroad bridge will be resolved, and work on the new lane should begin soon.
ODOT has agreed to build a steel and concrete retaining wall beneath the railroad bridge along the lane’s west side. Comprised of steel pylons and concrete lagging, the wall will extend up to 20 feet beneath the railroad bridge over the highway.
In other business, Gus Suwaid, West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 manager, said the major slip along Pennsylvania Avenue in Weirton appears to have been related to excavation near the site, and Starvaggi Industries, a contractor involved with the work, is working with the state to correct the situation.
Suwaid said Starvaggi has made plans to employ an engineer to design remedies to the slip, with the state to approve the measures. He said while repairs to the damaged road aren’t expected to occur until spring, they should effectively address the situation.
“We’re looking for a long-lasting fix, not a temporary one,” he said.
Mark Henne, assistant director of the Weirton Transit Corp., asked the WVDOH to be vigilant this winter in clearing and treating roads used as a detour since Pennsylvania Avenue was closed by the slip.
Asked about a proposal to relocate W.Va. 2 in New Cumberland, Suwaid said an environmental study is being done for several scenarios eyed for the highway and a recommendation is expected within a year.
He said while local officials have favored one proposal, state officials are obligated to explore all of the options for the purposes of determining environmental impact.
New Cumberland officials have supported bypassing Station Hill and Ridge Avenue and taking W.Va. 2 down South Chester Street and past the old AIR building and AL Solutions at an estimated cost of $10 million. They said that route would eliminate the need for large trucks to negotiate two 90-degree turns and a narrow climb up Station Hill.
Officials with the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle have said the move would support economic development.
