Last year, the West Virginia Division of Highways announced that a multi-million dollar bridge project was going to take place in Bridgeport. As 2019 is well underway, some may wonder why they haven’t seen work on the high-profile bridge.

 

According to WVDOH District 4 Construction Engineer Jason Nelson, there’s a simple reason for it.

 

“The bridge is a design-build contract. Right now, it’s in the design phase,” said Nelson.

 

That’s good news as the bridge in question is not only one that sees thousands of travelers each day, but is in desperate need of repair. The bridge is the U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin Rux Bridge, which is the bridge on Route 131 that crosses Interstate 79 just past Kia Freedom and before the back entrance to White Oaks.

 

Nelson said the bridge surface will be repaired. Along with it, he added, the bridge will be rehabilitated all the way to the piers.

 

The cost to do it? The winning bid for the design-build project was $4,240,893. Kelly Paving out of Williamstown, West Virginia is doing the work.

 

“This is standard as it’s a contractor-consultant partnership. There is the bid on the job and then the plans are developed by the consultant and that’s followed by the contractor doing the job off the plan,” said Nelson.

 

AMT Engineering is doing the design work. He said their office is out of Parkersburg.

 

“Those doing this work have criteria to say within and a deadline to meet,” said Nelson. “Barring something beyond their control, we’re still forecasting a completion at the end of 2019.”

 

The bridge, when finished, will be approximately 58-feet wide. There will be two travel lanes, a center turning lane and two 10-foot wide shoulders.

 

Motorists have complained for more than a year about the condition of the bridge.  Those complaints will likely be replaced with the standard complaint when projects of this nature are undertaken – issues with traffic delays.

 

For those wondering if traffic will be impacted, Nelson said last June it’s almost a certainty. To what level, however, remains unknown. Nelson said the status relating to potential delays won’t be known until the design-build is finalized – and then approved – by the West Virginia Division of Highways.

 

Nelson did add he anticipated impacts to be at a minimum. He said the standard way to deal with projects of this nature is to work on one lane at a time.

 

The project is one of several the DOH is doing in Bridgeport. The paving of Johnson Avenue as well as the paving of Main Street from Center Street all the way to Fixed Wing Drive near the Crystal Ridge Subdivision means more than $5.3 million in road work will take place on state roads within the city limits starting this year.

 

There is one other benefit to the city. With the bridge being in the city limits, business and occupation tax dollars will come to Bridgeport. The estimate, according to the Bridgeport Finance Department, is $84,000 on the base contract alone.