By JOLENE CRAIG
10/07/05 - PARKERSBURG - Construction on another major part of Corridor D in Parkersburg will begin this month, officials said Wednesday.
A 2-mile segment of U.S. 50 between W.Va. 892 and W.Va. 30, will be upgraded to four lanes beginning Oct. 28 and ending June 30, said Rusty Roten, District 3 engineer with the West Virginia Department of Highways.
"The contractor (West Virginia Paving Inc. of Dunbar) should begin paving late this month but may start earlier," Roten said. "They are trying to finish the other projects so they can start on the new project early."
The $8.3 million contract calls for paving on the segment beginning at the W.Va. 68 overpass and ending near DuPont. It also includes the installation of signs, lighting, and traffic signals on the eastbound and westbound exit ramps of the freeway at its intersection with W.Va. 892.
Because paving is temperature sensitive, the work will be done between October and late November and will begin again in the spring, Roten said.
"We never know what the weather will do so we want to get the paving done as soon as possible," he said. "Things such as the lights and signs can be worked on during the winter months."
Carol Melling, public affairs officer of the WVDOH, said the work will complete Corridor D through Parkersburg, but the freeway's last remaining West Virginia segment is the Blennerhassett Island Bridge over the Ohio River. Work on the 4,000-foot bridge, which is under way, is expected to take three years to complete.
Appalachian Corridor H was also given more construction with the Kanawha Stone Co. Inc. was awarded a $3.2 million contract to upgrade two-lane Trout Run Cutoff Road into a connector route linking the east end of Corridor H near Wardensville to W.Va. 259/55.
This project includes a mile of construction.
Posted with permission from The Parkersburg News & Sentinel
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