CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The rehabilitation of the Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge is moving forward after the West Virginia Division of Highways awarded a $74.5 million contract for the project.
The DOH announced Tuesday that it awarded the contract to Triton Construction. The Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge, also known as the Fort Hill Bridge, carries Interstate 64 over the Kanawha River in Charleston and serves approximately 100,000 vehicles each day.
The project follows the development of several potholes during the summer of 2025, which prompted the state Division of Highways to make emergency repairs that caused significant traffic delays.
It also follows additional work completed in October 2025, when Triton Construction repaired concrete, installed a waterproof membrane and added a 2-inch layer of asphalt.
DOH Spokesperson Rusty Marks said the project was planned to minimize traffic disruptions as much as possible.
He said crews will begin building two median crossovers in August, with most of the work taking place at night and on weekends.
Marks said the construction schedule was designed to reduce the impact on motorists.
“We’re doing that crossover work in the summer, so that during the winter, for the holiday season we’re going to leave that open, that’s why we’re not starting construction until next year, we don’t want to disrupt traffic to much through the holiday season this year,” he said.
According to a DOH release, the rehabilitation project includes replacing the bridge deck and barrier walls on the main span and the four access ramps, repairing structural steel on the bridge’s arch, and repairing and painting the concrete piers.
Marks said crews will complete repairs on one side of the bridge before shifting traffic and beginning work on the other side.
“What we’re going to be doing, all traffic is going to be shifted on the eastbound bridge first, one lane in each direction and we’ll have stuff in place for emergency and they’re going to replace the decking on the westbound bridge then they’ll switch over,” he said.
Marks said that crews will work 20-hours a day until they are done with the repairs.
Marks encouraged travelers to visit the Division of Highways’ website, which launched in February, for the latest information on the project, other major road projects and the anticipated construction schedule.
He said the tentative schedule calls for crews to begin work in early 2027, with construction expected to continue through the end of the year.
“It’s supposed to be done by December next year, and we’ve got incentives for them finishing up faster, so they’ll be done by December and all the crossovers and everything should be out of the way by Spring 2028 and everything back to normal,” Marks said.
Officials said the website will be updated regularly as the project progresses.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito announced Wednesday she was able to secure more than $47 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program. Of that amount $24 million will go to support the bridge redecking project. $23 million of it will towards the Corridor H, Waites Run to Virginia State Line Project.
“I am very pleased to announce this latest funding for WVDOT, which will help complete two essential projects for transportation and commerce in West Virginia. Both improvements to the Eugene A. Carter Bridge in Kanawha County and the construction of Corridor H in Hardy County play key roles in the present and future connectivity of our state. The Carter Bridge is the most heavily travelled bridge in West Virginia, and those improvements will positively impact the commutes of countless West Virginians,” Capito said in her release last week.