AASHTO Journal, 17 April 2015
The West Virginia Department of Transportation opened bids April 14 for about $12 million in work to make immediate pavement repairs it had not previously planned on for Interstate 77 north of Charleston.
The department announced the repair program as an “emergency interstate resurfacing project,” and plans to award the contract April 22 for work to start early in May.
Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox described the damage there as the worst he had seen in 31 years as a civil engineer, the Metro News reported.
“We basically had 15 to 20 miles that came apart at the seams,” Mattox said, explaining that “the longitude seams on that highway were so disintegrated, the potholes got so deep, that we had to close down (the interstate) for safety reasons.”
The department has the extra funds on hand to cover the sudden project, as state highway revenue is up this year.
That work north of the state capital comes as the Division of Highways is also working on a long-planned, $18 million project to rehabilitate 19 bridges along I-64 running through Charleston.
The I-64 project includes replacing numerous expansion joints, applying latex modified concrete to bridge decks and replacing “cathodic” corrosion protection systems on four structures. It began in recent weeks and is scheduled to be completed in October.