From what I remember the new bridge was going to stay open while the new bridge is being constructed at more of an angle across the river. After the the bridge will be removed, so it could be a year or two before it's removed.
To clarify Brian's update here, while demolition is indeed part of the project which is currently underway, the entire bridge is still standing, albeit closed off and within the active construction zone as of July 15 during my site visit to the bridge. Not sure when the bridge will be demolished. The contractors are currently actually using the bridge to conduct construction activities.
Link below removed from main page - plans still accessible here:
Andy,
Thanks the link worked perfect. Hadn't stumbled onto West Virginia's bidding server before, nice to have that link handy.
It is interesting that only the 4th span appears to be non-original. I had assumed that both of the smaller spans were not original, since they have riveted connections while the two larger spans, which I presumed were older, have pin connections. They must have went with pin connections for the larger spans due to the size of the spans (easier construction). What is interesting is they found an identical smaller span to add to the bridge.
As for why a span was added, they didn't always do flood calculations like we do today, so maybe they added it for that, or maybe there were adjustments in the dam, etc.
http://www.wv.bidx.com/main/index.html
Here is the website under the heading "Letting of January 19th 2011" (at the bottom of the page) Then click on the link labeled "Exhibit". Give the page some time to download because the file is 52 MB.
Let me know if you have any troubles.
Andy,
Can you point me to the original plans for this bridge? Feel free to email me directly.
This bridge is scheduled for demolition. The project bids January 19th and I'm not sure what the timeline for the project is. I was confused while looking at the original drawing because the 1921 drawings show a 3 span structure (Identical to what is there minus the small eastern most span) They also have drawings showing a 4 span structure. I found at written on the drawings saying to 4th span was added identical to span 3 sometime beween 1921 and 1936. Thought you might want to update these items.
Here is the link to the demolition of the bridge: http://www.wdtv.com/wdtv.cfm?func=view§ion=5-News&item=P...