Weather Forecast Pushes Wellsburg Bridge Lift to Friday, Saturday
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WELLSBURG -- The much anticipated two-day Wellsburg Bridge lift project, initially scheduled for midweek has tentatively been pushed back to Friday and Saturday, weather pending, according to officials with Flatiron Construction and West Virginia Division of Transportation.
Flatiron Marketing & Communications Representative Jalie Creech said safety factors with Wednesday and Thursday's local weather forecast pushed the bridge move to Friday and Saturday. She said that, with a project of this magnitude, Flatiron wants to make sure all the weather conditions are in the proper safety margins before moving forward with the project.
"A lot of it has to do with safety," said Creech, adding that river and wind conditions must fall within certain margins in order to move forward.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh is predicting rain possibly mixed with snow showers and wind gusts as high as 23 mph for Wednesday.
According to a WVDOT press release, "due to the highly-sensitive nature of the actions being performed during this operation, execution will not be possible if river and wind conditions are not favorable."
The DOH will continue to monitor weather conditions throughout the week.
Constructed entirely offsite, the tied-arch span section of the bridge will be transported by barge approximately one mile down the Ohio River from its current location along the shoreline at the south end of Wellsburg, then eventually lifted into place onto the existing piers.
When completed, the Wellsburg Bridge will connect Route 2 in Wellsburg with Ohio 7 in Brilliant, providing an important artery for communities in northern West Virginia and eastern Ohio.
Tentatively, the tied arch span float to the pier site is currently scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., Friday, before being turned 90 degrees and positioned in its final orientation at the lifting site just south of the piers. The float is expected to take several hours. Crews are expected to begin the slow bridge lifting process beginning at 3:30 a.m, Saturday and continue through the afternoon before the structure is moved and lowered into place on top of the bridge piers.
West Virginia Division of Highways District 6 Engineer Tony Clark said it is going to be a slow and very cautious process as crews jack up the tied arch span from below in small increments.
Flatiron Construction also obtained a permit to halt river traffic in that area throughout the bridge moving project. In addition, a section of W.Va. 2 near the bridge site is expected to be closed at times over the two-day process.