
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994                   TAG: 9405120172
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Short

MEMORIAL BRIDGE OPENING DELAYED

The reopening of Memorial Bridge will be delayed an additional week or more, according to Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Fred Altizer, administrator of the department's Salem district.

"Now that we are 10 days into making repairs on Memorial Bridge, it looks as if the estimated time frame for reopening the bridge is another week to week-and-a-half," Altizer said in a prepared statement released Wednesday.

Altizer attributes the delay to problems obtaining special high-strength bolts that meet VDOT's safety standards. The large bolts are shipped from the supplier in California and have to be tested by VDOT's Materials Division after they arrive. Altizer said the testing is a routine practice to ensure quality and safety.

"You can't just go out and buy these particular bolts," Altizer said. "To get the bolts to our specifications was extremely difficult."

While tests are being conducted on the bolts, work crews are continuing to install reinforcing steel boxes on the first span of Memorial Bridge from the Radford side. The crews have installed 12 of the 16 specially fabricated boxes.

They must still install 32 boxes in the center of the bridge and 16 more on the span at the Fairlawn side.

When repairs to Memorial Bridge began on May 2, VDOT estimated the work would be completed in two weeks, weather permitting.

by CNB