Photo by Craig Howell Signage on site, and announcements by officials, indicate work scheduled on the Veterans Memorial Bridge, as well as the stretch of U.S. 22 between the bridge and the Harmon Creek exit, is set to begin Monday.

WEIRTON – Motorists should give themselves additional time if traveling along U.S. 22 in the coming months.

According to both state and local officials, as well as on-site signage, work to replace a cable on the Veterans Memorial Bridge and to resurface the “slow” lanes on a portion of U.S. 22 is set to officially begin Monday.

The West Virginia Division of Highways awarded a contract to Freyssinet Inc. in the amount of $1,842,229 for the cable replacement project on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. The work will focus on “Cable 10 South,” which officials note is corroded.

Bid packages note “temporary stay cables will be used during construction and anchored with concrete tiebacks near the riverbanks.”

The work will require lane closures on the eastbound side of the bridge, as well as on the river while the temporary stay cables and new cables are installed and the current cables are removed. Detours will be established using West Virginia Route 2 and Ohio Route 7 during times of total bridge closures when necessary.

In the event of a full closure, activities will take place in the evening hours, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

The DOH, meanwhile, awarded the U.S. 22 resurfacing project to Golden Triangle Construction Co. Inc. at a cost of $8,361,435.40, announcing the contract as part of a letting on Jan. 13 and officially awarding the bid Jan. 29.

The project will focus on the right, or “slow” lanes of U.S. 22 in both east- and westbound directions, between the Harmon Creek exit and the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

According to the bid package issued last fall, “work will consist of full-depth concrete replacement and upgrading the guardrail for approximately 2.74 miles. All work will be within the existing right of way.”

The resurfacing work will include three parts: the milling of existing bridge approaches to a two-inch depth, the removal of existing slabs in the slow lanes, replacing them with “10-inch non-reinforced Portland cement concrete pavement or 12-inch non-reinforced Portland concrete pavement where applicable,” and the placement of a superpave asphalt skid resistant pavement surface on the roadway.

Milling of existing asphalt will be done to a depth of two inches, with placement of new asphalt to begin following the replacement of concrete slabs.

Both projects are scheduled to last into early August.