WHITE HALL, W.Va. — Crews from New Kensington, Pennsylvania-based Swank Construction Company LLC, spent Wednesday morning deconstructing the I-79 bridge between the South Fairmont and Kingmont exits.
According to DOH District 4 Engineer Mike Daley, the substructure in the middle of the north and southbound lanes was the last part of the original bridge on that side of the highway to be removed in order to make way for the new structure.
“We had done everything we could do manually to remove the parts of the bridge we could, and this was the phase to take out the concrete arch,” Daley said.
The operation required a 1,000-foot perimeter around the blast site while people commuted to work, so the explosives had to be placed strategically along the arch to create a contained clean-up area.
“Where any type of explosion would go all out, this is all designed to hold within and drop straight down,” Daley said.
Because of the span and height of the arch, additional mechanical tools were used to make sure an errant piece of concrete didn’t damage any property.
“They used large, high-grade rubber bands to hold it together, so that way they didn’t lose any of the materials away from where they wanted it to go,” Daley said.
The work is part of the $72.5 million interstate widening project that began back in 2021. Next year, Daley said, the other will also be imploded.
The replacement bridge will have a concrete and steel substructure with a concrete deck.
“Steel beam structures with concrete decks,” Daley said. “It will be the most current design that we engineer for our bridges.”
The project is scheduled to be completed in October 2024.