Although projected timelines have been released by the state Division of Highways for the plethora of projects along Interstate 70 in Ohio County, District 6 Engineer Tony Clark is not 100 percent certain at this time when all of the familiar red Swank Construction trucks will be gone from the Wheeling area.
That is not because Swank crews are missing deadlines, though, but instead because of the amount of unexpected work that has been necessary to fully renovate and repair the federal freeway.
“What the exact date will be when Swank is 100 percent finished with everything involved with the Interstate 70 projects is something I do not know right now, but I do know they are still on track to get the Fulton Bridge replaced by late October of this year,” Clark reported. “I do know that the projects will not be completed until sometime in 2022, but there have been some areas where it has taken longer than expected because of the extent of work that’s been necessary.
“Swank’s employees have been working very hard to meet this deadline and that deadline; that’s for sure,” he continued. “I do believe Swank will continue bidding on projects in this area, and I do know they were awarded a pretty big project in the Fairmont area along I-79. Now, what this federal infrastructure package is going to look like when it comes out may have an impact on that, too, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Clark accepted the position of district engineer in District 6 in late-2019 after Swank had won the bid for the $214 million project and already started establishing crossover configurations. West Virginia voters overwhelmingly approved (73 percent to 27 percent) the issuance of $1.6 billion in state bonds on Nov. 7, 2017.
“When Gov. (Jim) Justice developed the ‘Roads to Prosperity’ program and included the bridges along I-70 in Ohio County, I was not in this position, yet so I’m not 100 percent familiar with the reasons why that interstate was included with all of the other projects listed,” Clark said. “I do know that those 25 or 26 bridges were not in good shape at all because they all were the original spans that were installed when the interstate was first put in back in the 1950s.
“I also have seen some of the photos that had been taken, and yes, some of them were alarming,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing the products used 70 years ago withstood what they did because this area does experience all four seasons most years, so that includes the snow, ice, and the salt that’s been used for years to improve the road conditions.”
Noise Was Necessary for Interstate 70 Bridge Project
When Justice rejected the lowest bid ($274 million), W.Va. Del. Erikka Storch (R-3rd) said the decision alarmed local residents because of the I-70’s obvious disrepair.
In fact, according to the lawmaker, many constituents believed at the time some kind of collapse was imminent.
“I know the lawmakers from this area, especially Shawn Fluharty and I, communicated to the Governor’s Office about the condition of Interstate 70 on many occasions, but there had been a lot of photos shared on social media that I’m sure reached Gov. Justice himself,” Storch said. “But when the first bid came in well over what the state projected, the governor threw it out, and that didn’t make too many people in this area very happy. When that happened, it was a topic I heard a lot about from nearly everyone I spoke to.
“Just based on those photos, I know a lot of people started wondering if someone was going to have to die to force Gov. Justice to put the bridges back out for a second bidding,” she said. “Not only were the piers and the decking more than 60 years old, but it looked as if they were just rotting away in those photos. In some areas, very large chunks of concrete were missing and plywood had to be placed beneath some of the decks after holes formed along the interstate in Elm Grove.”
Before the Interstate 70 project started in October 2019, as many as 50,000 motorists cross Ohio County on a daily basis. The freeway’s east and westbound lanes travel more than 2,100 miles form Maryland to Utah and pass through 10 states along the way. The shortest stretch of I-70, 14.45 miles, runs through the Mountain State’s Northern Panhandle.
For residents in the Wheeling area, I-70 was about convenience when traveling between the Ohio Valley Mall and The Highlands, but Storch reported she was told local motorists imposed upon themselves detours even before Swank employees arrived more than a year ago.
“I know the people who were in charge here in District 6 were telling the people in Charleston for a lot of years that I-70 was going to need a lot of attention, but it seemed as if the people in charge of the Department of Transportation were only paying attention to the inspection reports,” Storch explained. “But then I do know that Gus Suwaid made a lot of noise when he was in charge. Gus wouldn’t let it go either.
“After those photos started coming out on Facebook, the media really started covering the condition of the bridges along I-70, and Gus did all of the interviews,” she recalled. “Once the interstate was included in the ‘Roads to Prosperity’ projects, Gus campaigned for the governor so the bond issue would get a lot of votes in this area. I didn’t agree with everything in that issue, but I am glad it passed.”
