CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Highways announced Tuesday that it has accepted bids for a project to extend the life of the bridge deck on the Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge.
The bridge, which is the most traveled in West Virginia, has a bridge deck that is well past its prime. On two occasions this year, extraordinarily large potholes formed on the bridge, which caused traffic nightmares across the Capitol City.
The project will see a protective membrane be put down before crews put two-inch asphalt overlay on the bridge.
DOH spokesman Brent Walker says this is an effort to prevent water from causing more potholes until the full deck can be replaced.
“We want to keep water from getting in there that might exacerbate or continue to require us to make these repairs,” Walker told MetroNews Tuesday. “We’re going to lay this very thin rubber barrier across and then we’ll put the two-inch asphalt overlay on the bridge.”
This particular project is part of a three-step plan the DOH rolled out shortly after dealing with the large potholes in July. The first part of the plan was to do preventative patch work on the bridge during the night. Once this project is complete, it will make way for a full redecking project.
“We’re trying to extend the life of the bridge deck,” Walker said. “We’re trying to get to a point in a couple of years where we can really have a contract to replace the entire deck, but we’re not able to do that yet.”
He says once the rubber membrane and two-inch asphalt are down, drivers will have a better ride.
“It’ll be a smooth ride. Travelers have been on bridges with overlays on them all the time. They’ll probably hardly know a difference, except that it will be smooth and they won’t have this patch work on the bridge,” Walker said.
DOH engineers accelerated the bid process due to the extreme need. Walker says the low bidder has not been announced yet, but the process is moving fast.
“Because it’s fast-tracked, we will have an award for that I’m sure within days. Then we’ll announce who the low bidder was and what the award was for, and they can get started.”
The project is expected to be completed later in the fall. Walker said once work is started, there will be some lane closures and the DOH will provide more information at that point.