There is so much highway construction under way in West Virginia right now that it’s hard to tell one project from another. Huge cuts through mountains are typical of the construction required through the rugged terrain of the state. So, too, are the bridges that traverse the numerous streams and rivers encountered on each mile of a four-lane highway.
At least one project, however, will be different. The Corridor D project runs westward from Clarksburg, WV, near the center of the state, to Parkersburg, WV, situated near the Ohio River across from Ohio. While the project includes many miles of typical West Virginia construction, even for the relatively flat Ohio River Valley, at its end will be one very distinguishing feature — a $120-million four-lane suspension bridge over the Ohio River.
Corridor D (U.S. Route 50) is one of the 23 high-speed transportation corridors initiated in the 1960s by the Appalachian Regional Commission intended to spur economic development in the Appalachia region. Construction of the Corridor has been completed along U.S. Route 50 from Clarksburg to the intersection of Interstate 77 and U.S. Route 50 near Parkersburg. All that remains are a few miles to the Ohio River.
A number of contracts have been awarded and construction is under way on several segments of the Corridor. Bizzack Inc. of Lexington, KY, is working on two contracts totaling about 1.2 mi. (2 km) of the Corridor, as well as another 1 mi. (1.6 km) of Route 47 relocation. The total cost of both contracts is approximately $20 million.
Bizzack, which owns most of its own equipment, has been on the project since March. Using Caterpillar D8 and D9 dozers, Komatsu excavators, as well as Caterpillar loaders and 777 trucks, Bizzack has already moved more than 2 million cu. yds. (1.5 million cu m) of earth.
The project has not been without its challenges. Red shale clay was unexpectedly encountered and began to produce slips and slides in the designed 1-to-1 cut slopes, some as high as 150 ft. (45 m). Some of the slopes were cut back to 2-to-1 to alleviate the problem. But despite the field changes and an unusually rainy summer, Project Superintendent Tom Honacker said the project is basically on schedule of a fall 2001 completion date.
The path of Corridor D ran through an athletic field complex so a mitigation project for the athletic fields was required. The Godbey Fields Complex, as it is known, is now near completion and should allow construction to continue through the old fields. A separate contract was awarded to Trafalgar Construction for the construction of 13 baseball/softball fields, a football field, as well as support facilities.
More contracts are anticipated in the near future, which should bring the highway construction to completion in five years or less. But without a doubt, the element that will distinguish the Corridor D project from many others is what will be the first suspension bridge constructed in West Virginia since the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was built in 1849.
Numerous design options for the bridge were considered by Michael Baker Inc. and HNTB, the engineering design team for the project. Factors such as cost, navigational requirements of the Ohio River, and several environmental issues were evaluated. In the end, the suspension bridge proved to be the optimum solution.
The 3,080-ft. (940 m) bridge will be suspended by two towers, with the 1,380-ft. (420 m) center span carrying traffic over the historic Blennerhassett Island. Each tower will reach a height of 234 ft. (71 m) above the normal pool elevation of the Ohio River. Design of the bridge is expected to take about two years.
In the meantime, the slow and expensive process of building highways in West Virginia continues, moving one mountain at a time. At the end of this particular four-lane, which is, in actuality, the beginning of the highway, a structure very unique to the mountains of Appalachia will become an instant landmark. And at least a portion of a highway network envisioned almost four decades ago will be complete and the promise of economic expansion can be fulfilled.
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