Construction Equipment Guide
470 Maryland Drive
Fort Washington, PA 19034
800-523-2200
Mon October 10, 2011 - Northeast Edition
Work is moving along to replace a 60-year-old bridge between Keyser, W.Va., and McCoole, Md. The Memorial Bridge is a part of U.S Route 220, and crosses the Potomac River.
The full dollar amount of the project is $26.5 million, with funding coming from the Federal Highway Administration, the state of Maryland, and the state of West Virginia. The contract was awarded by the West Virginia Department of Transportation to Ahern & Associates of Saint Albans, W.Va., a division of Kokosing Construction Co., Fredericktown, Ohio. The project manager is Steve Diehl.
The project, which is currently on schedule for a November 2012 completion, calls for the demolition of the existing structure and construction of a new one. The replacement is necessitated by the condition of the existing bridge. In addition, demolition of several existing buildings was required for the proposed alignment of the bridge. The contract also calls for the construction of a new fire station for the city of Keyser, construction of a new pump station in McCoole, and relocation of water and sewer lines beneath the North Branch River.
The bridge includes 10 spans. It is 2,115 ft. (644.6 m) in length and 55.83 ft. (17 m) wide. It includes 5.3 million lbs. (2.4 million kg) of structure steel, 6,000 cu. yds. (4,587 cu m) of concrete, and 1.5 million lbs. (680,388 kg) of reinforcing steel.
Approximately 30 people are assigned to the job. Major subcontractors include Shelly Drilling, Avonmore, Pa., for drilled shaft foundations (caissons); and D.T. Read, Chesapeake, Va., for reinforcing steel.
Major equipment used on the job includes several cranes: a Manitowoc 999, Manitowoc 4000, Manitowoc 222, and Grove RT745. There also is a Komatsu PC200LC excavator, a Cat IT28G dozer, a Cat DG5 dozer, and several lifts, including a Snorkel TB60, a Snorkel TB85J, and a Haulotte HB767. CEG
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.