An Accelerated Bridge Deck Replacement (ABC) project on the West Virginia Turnpike originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, has been pushed back a week and will now begin on Sunday, September 18, 2022. The bridge deck replacement, at milepost 51.53 northbound near Pax, is expected to be completed by Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.
The project will utilize concrete deck panels fabricated off-site to greatly speed up construction and minimize inconvenience to the travelling public.
“Due to the volume of traffic the West Virginia Turnpike has daily, it is imperative that disruption of traffic is always as minimal as possible,” said Jeff Miller, executive director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority.
Construction is expected to take 13 days using the ABC method as opposed to up to six months for conventional on-site construction. “The contractors work 24-7 for those 13 days,” Miller said. “It’s pretty impressive.”
Contractors will close one lane at a time on the bridge to replace bridge decking. Once one lane is redecked, contractors will move to the other lane.
Drivers may experience delays in the construction zone during peak traffic times. However, the date for construction was intentionally picked to have as little impact on traffic as possible.
“We try to do these projects after Labor Day, when traffic volume is down a little bit,” Miller said.
The Parkways Authority schedules several ABC bridge projects every year. The method costs a little more, but with such high traffic volumes on the West Virginia Turnpike, the Parkways Authority can’t tie up traffic on the Turnpike for lengthy construction projects if faster alternatives are available.