The Wellsburg Bridge is a tied-arch bridge that will span over the Ohio River connecting the towns of Brilliant, Ohio and Wellsburg, West Virginia. When completed, the bridge will connect Route 2 in Wellsburg, WV to Route 7 in the eastern Ohio Communities. The existing bridge has antiquated spans that have exceeded their design life, with one bridge recently demolished because of being structurally deficient. The New Wellsburg Bridge consists of three Ohio approach Spans (Plate girders) measuring 195’, 255’, 195’, the main span (tied-arch) measuring 830’, and the two West Virginia approach spans (plate girders) measuring 187’-6” each. The design service life of this structure is 100 years.
Working with Flatiron Corporation, ISC is fabricating approx. 4300 tons of steel for the main span and 1500 tons of steel for the approach spans both to be completed in 2020. The tied arch bridge sections consist of 22 tie chords, 31 floor beams, 2 End beams, 18 Arch ribs, 4 knuckles as well as several secondary members such as stringers, lateral braces etc. All pieces except the 4 knuckles will be shipped to site by truck. However, due to the size of the knuckles (137,000 Lbs., 20’ high, 30’ long, 8’ wide), these components were shipped via Barge.
ISC performed a full progressive assembly for the tied-arch bridge at its 1.6 million sq. ft. facility under roof located in Gary, In, to ensure a proper fit-up at the site. ISC also played a critical role in the early design stages of this design build project, providing vital information pertaining to steel fabrication, inspection, acceptable tolerances, shipping logistics etc to minimize steel manufacturing and overall project costs. The New Wellsburg Arch Bridge shall consist of three 12’-0” lanes, two 6’-0” shoulders and one 8’-0” shared use path (for pedestrians).