Bridge work, river monitoring discussed in Brooke County
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WELLSBURG -- The Brooke County Commission said Tuesday when the Wellsburg-Brilliant bridge opens, a link from it to the Brooke County Pioneer Trail will still need to be completed.
While local officials have indicated the span is expected to be opened this month, the West Virginia Department of Transportation hasn't announced a specific date.
Commission President A.J. Thomas said representatives of the Flatiron Corp., the contractor for the $131 million project, have advised the paved link between the bridge's bicycle lane and the Brooke County Pioneer Trail below isn't expected to be done until November.
A section of the trail between the Smith Oil gas station and the bridge site has been closed since the project began.
Thomas said there also are plans to address slips along the hillside in that area that have occurred since crews constructed a half-mile long retaining wall along state Route 2.
Built to expand the highway's southbound lane toward the Ohio River, the wall is comprised of long steel beams, called pilings, drilled into the hillside below and wide steel panels, known as lagging, inserted between them.
County Commissioner Stacey Wise said there are deposits along the trail of up to 90 feet of soil excavated during the project, and there are plans to use that material to shore up shifting areas of the embankment adjacent to the trail.
Wise said she and others also are in talks with the contractor about restoring the paved trail, which has been used by heavy equipment since construction began.
In other business, the commission was presented a quote of more than $9,000 over a five-year period for the lease of equipment to monitor the stage of the Ohio River.
Jeff Luck, the county's deputy emergency management director, said the computerized equipment will measure the height of the river and the rate at which its rising and transmit those readings to a device on the roof of the county courthouse that can send alerts to county officials.
He said while the flood stage is monitored mechanically at the New Cumberland Locks and Dam and Pike Island Locks and Dam near Yorkville, locally it's been followed through visual measures, including a long pole in the river near the 12th Street boat ramp.
The commissioners authorized Luck to seek other quotes, if available, for the equipment.
The commission also announced the right northbound lane of Route 2 from Shiloh Apartments to 30th Street at the north end of Wellsburg will be closed from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday while crews remove trees along the embankment of the property to be occupied by the new ambulance station.
The five-bay station will be built near the intersection of Route 2 and Pleasant Avenue and the trees' removal will allow approaching drivers to see ambulances entering the highway from there.
Following the meeting, the commissioners were asked about the investigation of two underground tanks found at the site.
Thomas said a small amount of fluid found in the 4-foot by 20-foot tanks was found to be dirty water and there's no sign the tanks had leaks though the commission is awaiting results from soil samples taken there.
The commissioners confirmed the tanks were connected to 30-foot-long pipes that once tied into pumps for a gasoline station there years ago.
Thomas said aside from the tree removals, work on the property has been halted until an investigation of the tanks is completed.