Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 29, 1994 TAG: 9404290118
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER Note: below
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Repair work on the U.S.11 bridge is to start Monday and be finished in 14 days, depending on two things: on-time delivery of materials, and the weather.
The Virginia Department of Transportation rushed through an emergency contract with Lanford Brothers Co. Inc. of Roanoke. The construction company will make preparations, such as moving equipment and building scaffolding, through the weekend.
The bridge was closed to vehicle traffic April21 after an inspection found it unsafe.
"I don't see that a lot of this work can be done during the rain," Salem Transportation District Administrator Fred Altizer said Thursday after a news conference on the bridge. Each day lost to rain would add to the two weeks needed for the job.
Even if all goes perfectly, the bridge will not be open in time for Radford University's graduation May7.
Many materials must be specially made and shipped to the New River Valley.
It is not known what the eventual cost will be. Resident Engineer Dan Brugh said materials alone will cost more than $100,000.
District Maintenance Engineer Allen Williams explained that the contractor must pay prime prices to steel fabricators and manufacturers in order for them to clear away scheduled work and make the special pieces needed for the bridge.
Williams said a contractor was being sought even before repair plans were complete, to speed the bridge reopening. The Roanoke contractor was chosen Wednesday afternoon; plans were not complete until Thursday.
Repairs will be carried out 15 to 18 hours a day - but not at night, because of the danger of working under a bridge 80 feet above the river and areas of Radford's Bisset Park. Brugh said sections of the park may have to be closed when bridge work is being done overhead.
With the closing of Memorial Bridge, people traveling between Radford and Fairlawn must go an extra five to 10 miles.
About 20 representatives of businesses cut off from many of their customers by the closing met with transportation officials after the news conference. A few suggested a temporary bridge. But Brugh said it would take longer to put a temporary 1,500-foot bridge above the river than the anticipated two-week fix.
"The bridge did not go from being safe one day to being unable to carry traffic the next," Brugh said. "The type of deterioration we observed last week occurred over time."
Virginia started a regular bridge-inspection program after the collapse of an Ohio River bridge in the late 1960s. The state Transportation Department inspects all bridges at least every other year.
Because of its complicated structure, Memorial Bridge has been inspected annually. When increasing deterioration was noted last November, the frequency was increased to every six months.
When they rechecked Memorial Bridge this month, inspectors used an ultrasonic thickness gauge for the first time in a state bridge inspection. The gauge typically is used to measure steel through paint and corrosion in pipelines, ships' hulls and offshore platforms.
"Fortunately, we had a new piece of equipment which allowed us to see through rust and measure accurately just how much steel is left in critical areas of support of this bridge," Brugh said. "And there's not much in several areas, including the middle span over the New River."
The 1,500-foot truss bridge has more than 500 interdependent connections. "Failure of even one of these could lead to collapse of an entire span," he said.
"We don't usually build bridges like that today for that very reason."
Memorial Bridge opened in 1949. While the repair work will fix current problems, Altizer said the entire bridge probably would have to be rebuilt one day, "and however we do that is going to impact the city of Radford and Pulaski County for a long period of time."
Localities and businesses would be involved in reaching any such decision, he said, "because that's going to be a long, complicated process."
At least one lane of Memorial Bridge will remain open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic during repairs. Brugh said transportation officials would be glad to work with Radford on such ideas as a shuttle service at each end of the bridge.
Ambulance providers already have worked out procedures for delivering patients to one end of the bridge, wheeling them the 1,500 feet across and picking them up in another ambulance on the other side.
Brugh said the northbound Interstate 81 exit to Radford by Virginia 232, which has been closed for repairs, should reopen by the middle of next week and provide better access to the city.
Pulaski County has erected a sign on its side of the river warning of the bridge closing. Some of the businesspeople asked that a message be added that businesses on the Radford side are still open.
Pulaski County Emergency Services Coordinator Stan Crigger said he would make that addition as soon as he could get a new sign made. "I'm waiting for materials, too," he said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.