×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Three-Year I-70 Bridges Work to Begin in February

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, left, introduces Andrew Swank, president of New Kensington, Pennsylvania-based Swank Construction Co., as the successful low bidder for the Interstate 70 bridges project during an event Monday at Wheeling’s Heritage Port. Swank Construction submitted the low bid of $214.65 million for the work.

WHEELING — Orange barrels will be a part of the Interstate 70 landscape through Wheeling for three years, beginning in February.

Motorists should expect sporadic lane closures in the work zones during the entire project, said West Virginia Highways Commissioner Jimmy Wriston during a press conference Monday at Heritage Port in Wheeling.

“If you want to bake a cake, you have to break some eggs,” Wriston said.

Wriston spoke to a group gathered to hear Governor Jim Justice announce the awarding of a $214.65 million bid to the Swank Construction Company of New Kensington, Pennsylvania.

The governor said Swank’s bid was the lowest of five submitted. Other bids came from the Trumbull Corporation, Pittsburgh, $215,376,254.31; Brayman Construction Corporation, Saxonburg, $218,373,550.11; Joseph B. Fay Company, Tarentum, $234,931,000, and Walsh Construction Company, Chicago, $237,704,300.

Preliminary work will begin later this fall with little or no traffic disruption, and the barrels will show up early next year

Justice said the state saved $61 million by not accepting bids submitted last year.

“The bids came in at $275 million, and we thought it should be around $190 million” he said. “So, we went back to the drawing board. We tweaked and worked at it as diligently as we could. Many people thought our bridges will never be fixed.”

Wriston said the major difference in the scope of work contained in the new bids was that engineering costs were removed from the bid because the state did its own engineering work, and the state pulled back on the paving process.

Plans are to replace the east and westbound I-70 Fulton Bridges, located on the east side of the Wheeling Tunnel. The remaining 24 bridges between the Ohio and Pennsylvania borders will be rehabilitated over the three-year period.

Highway officials have said a combination of rusting steel and eroding concrete on the Fulton Bridges have identified the two spans for full replacement. They will be fully closed on one side at a time.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today