The US$215 million I-70 Bridges project in West Virginia is inching closer and closer to completion. The state’s most complex road construction project to date has eight bridges, four of which were built from the ground up with the others were replaced. Exit and entry ramps along with highway works were among the problems that are to be resolved through the project. The project, which is supported by Governor Jim Justice’s US$2.8 billion Roads to Prosperity highway building and maintenance initiative, began in 2019. Repairs, deck overlay, and painting of the Fort Henry Bridge; completely new decks for the eastbound; repairs, deck overlay, and painting of the Main Street Bridge; and westbound East Tunnel Bridge; complete demolition and replacement of the eastbound and westbound Fulton Bridges; and deck replacements or overlays on four bridges in the Elm Grove area were all part of the project.
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When the project began, the limited distances that made the creation of temporary crossing lanes difficult were only part of the challenge. The second concern, he claimed, was the 1950s-era pier supports beneath the full-fledged bridge sections. While the original piers, which have since been restored, were gigantic, they were only attached to the two-lane bridges above by two points each. Because of the now-outdated building method, it was physically impossible to rebuild one lane at a time. Instead, the whole westbound bridge had to be demolished at once, forcing DOH engineers to redirect through traffic to the I-470 bypass and city traffic along National Road.
More Details on the I-70 West Virginia bridge project
In terms of scale, DOH District 6 Engineer Tony Clark just completed a tally to determine the extent of the bridge construction. Two figures, in particular, were concerning: one, it has required more than 30,000 cubic yards of concrete coated with white waterproofing material when upright or mixed with life-extending materials on driving surfaces; and two, that concrete is reinforced with approximately 7 million pounds of rebar.
