CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Division of Highways has a safety engineer on a Wheeling jobsite a day after a bridge collapse left three construction workers injured.
The Washington Avenue Bridge dropped into Wheeling Creek as crews were dismantling the span to make way for a new bridge. An excavator and dump truck were on the bridge when it collapsed and much of the bridge already had the concrete deck removed.
“Our state safety officer is meeting with the contractor to review the event, but let’s not forget it was a closed sight, a demolition project, and an unfortunate worksite accident,” said West Virginia Department of Transportation Spokesman Brent Walker.
Walker said the bridge itself is actually owned by the city of Wheeling, but the state was handling the facilitation of the contract under a federal program which allowed them to be the administrators and would put the bridge into the same maintenance rotation schedule as other spans across the state. Otherwise, Walker said the Division of Highways had no ties to the now collapsed span.
A typical post accident inspection is expected from federal regulatory agencies, but Walker said they don’t have that kind of authority on the site.
“When we hand contractors the project, it becomes their site and their project. We’ll continue to work with the contractor, but it’s still their site,” he said.
Walker was unsure if the incident would create any kind of delay in completion. The new bridge is expected to be open by December.
“I think it’s a little premature to know that. It’s a little early to know what impact this accident will have on the completion date,” he said.
One of the workers suffered a serious leg injury. The other two workers had only miner injuries from the incident.