Tried to build a bridge across the Ohio River lately? They're getting to be expensive.
The newest bridge over the Ohio will open to traffic the evening of June 13. The new bridge is a few miles below Parkersburg. It carries U.S. 50, also known as Corridor D, across the Ohio. The new bridge is big -- 4,009 feet long -- and it passes over historic Blennerhassett Island.
Cost? $136 million.
Now move down to Ironton, where the Ohio Department of Transportation is redesigning its proposed new bridge to connect that city with Russell, Ky. The existing bridge opened in 1922. It was the first highway bridge over the Ohio between Wheeling and Cincinnati. It's showing its age. It should have been replaced long ago.
Money is part of the problem. Ohio estimated the cost of replacing the old steel bridge with a new one of cable stay design -- similar to Huntington's East End bridge -- at $90 million. It advertised for construction bids, but they came in $10 million or more over estimate.
So Ohio is redesigning to bridge to fit the budget. Last week, ODOT officials said they have moved construction on the new bridge up a year to begin in 2012. Ironton officials had asked that the new bridge include a ramp to a brownfield area that is being marketed for industrial redevelopment, but ODOT officials said the ramp would cost too much and it would require a traffic signal, which they don't want.
So $130 million at Parkersburg and $90 million at Ironton. For comparison, the four-lane Robert C. Byrd Bridge at downtown Huntington cost about $33 million when it was built. It opened in 1994. A few years later, West Virginia spent about $7.3 million to repaint and renovate the Nick J. Rahall II Bridge in Huntington's West End.
Yes, inflation has truly hit the bridge-building industry. In 12 years, the cost of building a bridge across the Ohio River has tripled.
Considering how badly our infrastructure needs overhauling or replacement, that's a disturbing figure. The Blennershassett bridge is a new bridge that completes a four-lane highway upgrade in both West Virginia and Ohio. The Ironton-Russell Bridge fills a more critical need.
The federal Department of Transportation rates bridges based on their structural integrity and on how well they serve modern traffic needs. On a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest score, the Rahall bridge scored 41. The East End bridge scored 68, and the Robert C. Byrd Bridge scored 88. The Ironton-Russell Bridge scored 7.2.
Cost will be a huge deterrent in replacing much of our outdated infrastructure. It's not limited to bridges, of course. The problems in Huntington's sewer system will have to be faced soon, and rates are going up to pay part of that cost.
But bridges are more visible, and when they fail, the results are disastrous, as this region is well aware.
The easiest answer is to increase fuel taxes to raise money for bridge repair and replacement, but taxpayers are not likely to go along with that, what with gasoline prices heading for $4 by Memorial Day and diesel fuel prices already past that point.
Ohio has to get moving on the new Ironton-Russell Bridge. The project has taken much too long. Moving construction up one year helps, but there has to be a way to get the project moving faster.
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