Gov. Jim Justice and leaders from the West Virginia DOT (WVDOT) announced yesterday that the contract for work upgrading more than two dozen bridges along the Wheeling corridor of I-70 has been awarded to Swank Construction Company.
According to the Office of the Governor, the project is considered to be one of the most significant of Gov. Justice’s Roads to Prosperity program.
The governor made the announcement during a public event at Heritage Port Park in Wheeling, which overlooks the Fort Henry Bridge crossing the Ohio River—one of 26 total bridges in the greater Wheeling/Ohio County area set to receive work as part of the project.
The scope of work for the project includes rehabilitation work on 25 bridges along this section of I-70. Work also includes the replacement of the Fulton Bridge, which is located just to the east of the Wheeling Tunnel.
The goal of the project is to enhance safety on the many bridges in the area by fine-tuning their structural integrity, while also improving access for pedestrians to travel across the bridges on foot.
Swank Construction Company’s winning bid for the project came in at $214.65 million. The same project originally went out for bid last year, but the initial low-bid of $275.16 million came back much higher than expected.
Initial work on the project is scheduled to begin this year. With the majority of the first phase of work set to take place underneath the structures, traffic is not expected to be affected in 2019. The entire I-70 Bridge Project is expected to require at least 3 years to complete.
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NEWS & IMAGE SOURCE: Office of Gov. Jim Justice
