| Bridge replacement scheduled for 2010
By David Hedges, Publisher
www.thetimesrecord.net
Replacement of Corder Bridge is now on schedule for next year.
The bridge on U.S. 33/119 between Roane and Calhoun counties was originally to be replaced in 2007. That was according to a six-year plan developed by the W.Va. Division of Highways in 2005.
Part of the delay was attributed to a historical survey, according to Cliff Essig, DOH bridge engineer for a seven-county district that includes Roane and Calhoun.
Essig said the project would be submitted for bids in late November. If all goes according to schedule, he said a bid should be awarded by Dec. 28.
He said the project has a projected completion date of January 2011.
"I would say it would take at least that long," he said. "It's a pretty big project.
"Any date is tentative," Essig added. "There are no guarantees, but these are the projected dates."
Essig said a big part of the delay was related to the historical survey.
He said items found in the preliminary survey resulted in a more in-depth survey being required.
"They found an arrowhead or something," he said. "They really didn't find a lot."
He said a consulting archeologist was called in. That delayed the project, but he said no more items were located.
He said property was acquired and a used car lot moved back from the road to make way for construction.
He said about one-fourth mile of new road will be built for the new steel I-beam bridge with concrete deck that will replace the existing bridge, which is a through-truss construction. The existing bridge will remain open during the construction process.
The new bridge will be 40 feet wide, with two 12-foot lanes and 8-foot shoulders.
He said the projected construction cost is $4 million, which does not include engineering costs.
When the project was first listed on the plan released in 2005, the entire project cost was estimated at $1.5 million.
Another bridge replacement on that list in 2005 remains in limbo.
The Col. Ruby Bradley Bridge in downtown Spencer had been scheduled for replacement in 2008, according to the plan released in 2005.
That bridge is no longer on the six-year plan.
"To my knowledge, there's not any schedule for replacement," Essig said.
He said a study to look at widening the bridge was to begin this year, with a projected completion date of next summer.
The district office in Parkersburg is not handling that project, Essig said. A DOH engineer in Charleston working on the project did not return a phone call.
Essig sad a project underway to replace the North Market Street bridge leading into the Alvord area of Spencer had a completion date of September 2010, although it could be finished before that date.
www.thetimesrecord.net
| 
