West Virginia

[seicer]

Am I blue? WVDOH announces color scheme, informational website for Charleston interstate bridge painting project

A series of nine interstate bridges and six interstate ramps running through downtown Charleston will be painted blue with white concrete work, the West Virginia Division of Highways announced today. The painting is necessary to prolong the life of the bridges and ramps.

A dedicated website will also be created to keep the public informed about the massive project.

"This area has the highest daily traffic counts in the state of West Virginia,"  said Greg Bailey, P.E., WVDOH Chief Engineer of Operations. "It's a very visible piece of highway."

On March 1, 2022, Blastech Enterprises Inc. was awarded a contract for $27,420,996.50 to clean and paint the series of bridges and ramps on Interstate 77 and Interstate 64. Funding is a combination of federal and state monies.

The project includes bridges over Piedmont Road, Bigley Avenue, and Court Street and ramps accessing Court Street, Leon Sullivan Way, and Brooks Street. Weather permitting, work on the bridges is expected to begin the week of Monday, April 4, 2022.

Contractors have planned the project with as little impact to the traveling public as possible. "However, with a project this large, there is going to be some traffic disruption,"  Bailey said.

Contractors have developed a website, www.CarterBrooksIC.info, where the public will be able to find work schedules, detours, and other information about the project.

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Via https://www.carterbrooksic.info/ -

The Carter Bridge/Brooks Street Interchange Project, funded by the West Virginia Division of Highways, is a bridge painting and repair project of fifteen (15) bridges on the I-77/I-64 corridor in Charleston, WV. The project footprint includes the bridges associated with the I-77/I-64 interchange (Bigley Ave. bridges/ramps) on the north side of downtown Charleston and stretches east across the Elk River and Kanawha Valley Railroad to the I-77/I-64 ramps for Leon Sullivan Way and Brooks Street.

The project was let on the February 8th, 2022, WVDOH Project Letting for a price of $27,420,996.50 to Blastech Enterprises, Inc. from Baltimore, MD. The project was officially awarded on March 1, 2022, and the contractor was given the Notice to Proceed on March 21, 2022. The Carter Bridge/Brooks Street Interchange is expected to be performed over the next 20 months with an original contract completion date of November 17, 2023.

The original bridges were built in the early 1970's and are due for maintenance to keep them functioning properly, extending their useful lifespan for years to come. In addition to cleaning and painting the structural steel of the fifteen (15) bridges, the project will make various improvements to the existing bridges that include: concrete crack and spall repairs, concrete protective coating, bolt replacements, repair and cleaning of bridge drainage, bridge joint cleaning, access door repairs, parapet plate armoring, fence replacement, electrical and lighting repairs, and erosion repairs. The existing pedestrian bridge over I-77/I-64 and staircases will be removed as part of the project.

With the majority of the project work to be performed underneath the bridges, the traveling public should expect various roadway closures and detours to local streets as well as partial closures to parking lots under the bridges associated with the project. Additionally, nightly lane closures and various ramp closures along the I-77/I-64 corridor will occur within the project limits.

[Dirt Roads]

Am I blue? WVDOH announces color scheme, informational website for Charleston interstate bridge painting project

A series of nine interstate bridges and six interstate ramps running through downtown Charleston will be painted blue with white concrete work, the West Virginia Division of Highways announced today. The painting is necessary to prolong the life of the bridges and ramps.

<snipped>

Missed opportunity here.  Instead of painting the concrete white, the DOH should have considered painting them yellow.  That is the shade that we called "state road yaller" back in the 1960s.  Semi-official colors of the state and its flagship university.  For those unfamiliar, the dome of the State Capitol in Charleston was repainted in dark royal blue and "state road yellow" after the original gold leaf peeled off due to [pollutants from the local chemical industry].  It was repainted in dark royal and gold leaf sometime in Jay Rockefeller's first term (about 1978 or so).  Old-timers were upset about the blue paint, since the original was all gold leaf.  Since then, it has been repainted in all gold leaf.

Anyhow, the official colors of West Virginia University are royal blue and old gold.  But most of us still think of dark royal and state road yellow as the WVU regalia.

[seicer]

You are in luck... these bridges I have not yet photographed because they look very worn down. I'm glad they are painting both spans in differing colors - which are also the state's official colors and not the colors of the Ukrainian flag (sadly, a lot of online commenters are not aware of that).

This is not unlike the pair of bridges at Ashland, Kentucky.

Also, those ramps could stand to be diamond ground.

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Let's gooooooo, bridge painteers! Work underway to paint West Virginia Turnpike Chuck Yeager Bridge

Contractors have begun rigging work for a new blue and gold paint job on the Charles Chuck Yeager Bridge on the West Virginia Turnpike.

In June 2021, Southern Road and Bridge LLC was awarded a contract for $16,267,273.80 to completely repaint both northbound and southbound spans of the bridge. The winning bid was 11 percent lower than the engineer's estimate for the project.

In honor of Yeager, a Hamlin native who was the first man to officially break the sound barrier, the decision was made to paint the bridges in blue and gold.

"The Yeager Bridge is an iconic bridge entering the Kanawha Valley on the West Virginia Turnpike and it is in desperate need of a full painting,"  said Jeff Miller, Executive Director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority. "The West Virginia Parkways Authority is proud that Gov. Jim Justice had the vision to honor Yeager, who is one of the greatest West Virginians of all time, by painting this bridge in the official state colors of gold and blue. Not only will this help improve the overall condition and appearance of the bridges, but it is also a simple, yet classy gesture to honor this great West Virginian."

The southern span of the bridge was built in 1952 as part of the original alignment of the West Virginia Turnpike. The northbound bridge was built in 1980. Plans call for the southbound bridge to be painted blue and the northbound span to be painted gold.

Through December 2022, contractors plan to clean and paint the steelwork below the bridge decks. The work will require intermittent lane closures on US 60 and WV 61.

Beginning in January 2023, contractors plan to tackle the main bridge trusses above the bridge decks. Plans call for painting both bridges at the same time.

Painting is expected to be complete in June 2023.

[SP Cook]

The bridges in question were named for Gen. Chuck Yeager, first man to break the sound barrier.   Who donated much of his estate and items from his military career to Marshall University, whose top scholarship is endowed by him and named for him.  But don't let facts and logic get in the way of honoring a "flagship"  university 100s of miles away..  Whatever "flagship"  is.    Really they should paint a bridge in New Jersey for WVU.

More on the Rockefeller repainting of the dome.  The original golf leaf was worn away by pollution.  Rockefeller was told that re-gilding the dome would last for another 40 to 50 years.  He chose to paint it, which lasted about 18 months before it looked like garbage.  He spent the money for the sale of the gold to buy a single snow plow for Preston County DOH.  He also turned off all the lights around the capital, including the dome.

With no money to repair the dome, it looked like crap for the length of the Rockefeller era, which is very symbolic.  When Rockefeller moved on they had the dome re done in gold, and it looks great.  They burned the light 24/7/365, because, as the next governor said, "it runs on WV coal and we have a 400 years supply" >

[Removed gratuitous political name-calling. -S.]

[Dirt Roads]

You are in luck... these bridges I have not yet photographed because they look very worn down. I'm glad they are painting both spans in differing colors - which are also the state's official colors and not the colors of the Ukrainian flag (sadly, a lot of online commenters are not aware of that).

That's more like it.  Its not "state road yaller", but that certainly looks like a modern-day WVU color scheme. 

[GCrites]

I didn't notice it so much when I lived there since I took it at face value, but years later now when I go to Huntington and surrounding towns it really sticks out to me how many things are painted green.

I remember it seemed like the capitol dome spent most of the '80s being worked on and covered up.

[Bitmapped]

The bridges in question were named for Gen. Chuck Yeager, first man to break the sound barrier.   Who donated much of his estate and items from his military career to Marshall University, whose top scholarship is endowed by him and named for him.  But don't let facts and logic get in the way of honoring a "flagship"  university 100s of miles away..  Whatever "flagship"  is.    Really they should paint a bridge in New Jersey for WVU.

More on the Rockefeller repainting of the dome.  The original golf leaf was worn away by pollution.  Rockefeller was told that re-gilding the dome would last for another 40 to 50 years.  He chose to paint it, which lasted about 18 months before it looked like garbage.  He spent the money for the sale of the gold to buy a single snow plow for Preston County DOH.  He also turned off all the lights around the capital, including the dome.

With no money to repair the dome, it looked like crap for the length of the Rockefeller era, which is very symbolic.  When Rockefeller moved on they had the dome re done in gold, and it looks great.  They burned the light 24/7/365, because, as the next governor said, "it runs on WV coal and we have a 400 years supply" >

[Removed gratuitous political name-calling. -S.]

Arch Moore's all-gold leaf design failed after several years. The gold developed streaks and was flaking off. Seems appropriate for a governor who went to prison for accepting kickbacks.

The current done scheme is a restoration of the original Cass Gilbert design. It has dark blue bars with gold leaf and was done in the mid-2000s.

[Rothman]

I didn't notice it so much when I lived there since I took it at face value, but years later now when I go to Huntington and surrounding towns it really sticks out to me how many things are painted green.

I remember it seemed like the capitol dome spent most of the '80s being worked on and covered up.

Yeah, I remember it looking like sooted up crap back in the 1990s or so.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the dome some years ago after it was last restored.

[hbelkins]

I didn't notice it so much when I lived there since I took it at face value, but years later now when I go to Huntington and surrounding towns it really sticks out to me how many things are painted green.

But not Marshall green. The generic darker green, from what I've noticed.

[GCrites]

Correct, getting things like carpet in Marshall green is pretty much not happening unless you pay big bucks for custom. Yet there is tons of jade and forest carpet all around town because it's the closest you can get. And the actual Marshall green paint would have too much visual impact so the darker green gets subbed in.

[SP Cook]

"Marshall green"  is described as "Kelly green"  and is Pantone 354 C, CMYK 80 0 92 0, RGB 0 177 64, or HEX 00B140. 

About 15 years ago, MU had a really lazy and bad AD who let Nike just use its generic green which is much darker, similar to Michigan State.  He claimed that Nike told him they couldn't do custom colors, and one of the reporters for the local TV presented him with a jersey from North Texas, the only other school to use that exact color, which indeed Nike had done for them.  The next AD got everything redone in the correct color, but a lot of merchants were stuck with stuff that was the "wrong color"  and it caused bad feelings.

Anyway, most fire hydrants in Huntington and Barboursville are painted green and white.  Other than that it is mostly private businesses doing things, not infrastructure. 

[GCrites]

When I lived there in the early-mid 2000s that darker green had just come off an extremely popular spell in pop culture so it didn't stick out as much as it does today where grayscale rules.

[SP Cook]

https://wvmetronews.com/2022/04/24/transportation-secretary-describes-focus-on-corridor-h-king-coal-and-coalfields-highways/

Annual planning update for the legislature.  I agree with is Corridor H comments.  The time frame for the KC/Tolsia and Coalfields seem very optimistic. 

[hbelkins]

https://wvmetronews.com/2022/04/24/transportation-secretary-describes-focus-on-corridor-h-king-coal-and-coalfields-highways/

Annual planning update for the legislature.  I agree with is Corridor H comments.  The time frame for the KC/Tolsia and Coalfields seem very optimistic.

I've never met Jimmy Wriston (obviously) but I like him. He seems very much like an Everyman transportation secretary. He came up through the ranks of the WVDOT and doesn't seem overly slick, polished, or political (although I'm sure he's fairly savvy in how the political system works).

I just don't get the feeling that he's pretentious or considers himself to be above the people who are actually out doing the work. And it's rare that I've seen him dressed up in any photos accompanying news stories in which he's mentioned. Looks like from the appearance of his clothing, he'd be more at home out on a project than behind a desk.

[seicer]

"The mileage aspect is true, Wriston said, "but we're taking a look at some different approaches maybe where we can use Route 52 to a degree and only build two lanes maybe." "

It makes me wonder if that isn't going to be the case for much of the improved portions of the Tolsia Highway north of US 119, since some of that was built only 40 or so years ago. It already looks like the portion north of Prichard will follow the existing US 52 alignment rather than run purely on the ridgetops.

[SP Cook]

It already looks like the portion north of Prichard will follow the existing US 52 alignment rather than run purely on the ridgetops.

Most of the land for 52 between Kenova and Prichard was bought more than 20 years ago, when the project (meaning the Kenova to Prichard part, not the whole thing) was a big deal and on the front burner.  Then the governor changed and its just been setting there. 

The sad deal, for the taxpayers, is that, as you say that part of the road, is only 40 years old.  What is now WV 152 was the old US 52, and the "new"  US 52 was county route 9, in some spots a dirt road, with very low land values.  Just farm country.  Now home to a lot of light manufacturing and good homes.    Had enough land been acquired for four lanes, at that time, and banked, the savings would have been large.

[hbelkins]

"The mileage aspect is true, Wriston said, "but we're taking a look at some different approaches maybe where we can use Route 52 to a degree and only build two lanes maybe." "

It makes me wonder if that isn't going to be the case for much of the improved portions of the Tolsia Highway north of US 119, since some of that was built only 40 or so years ago. It already looks like the portion north of Prichard will follow the existing US 52 alignment rather than run purely on the ridgetops.

There really isn't a lot on the east side of the road other than hillsides. A short tie-in from the current end of the four-lane at WV 75 and then just blast the side of the mountain along the existing route, and maybe improve some access control points, and you're pretty good at least as far as Prichard.

I think an eastern bypass of the Ft. Gay area would be warranted, although it might be fairly easy to widen the existing route near the WV 37 intersections without displacing too many people.

Maybe they can even keep some of the button copy that still exists near Ft. Gay.

I call your attention to this:

https://goo.gl/maps/9ERpgTKMTDpaer7F8

(You will need to zoom in to see details.)

Kentucky is getting ready to widen KY 15 between KY 30 and KY 1812 to four lanes with a TWLTL. Only three structures are going to be impacted: the produce stand on the north side of the road across from the strip mall, the used car lot at the corner of KY 15/KY 1812 (Main Street), and a doublewide mobile home up on the hill across from the former Pizza Hut location.

It'll take a crapload of blasting, but they are going to be able to do it without too much disruption to existing properties.

Hopefully WV can do the same with US 52.

[SP Cook]

https://wvmetronews.com/2022/04/27/parkways-authority-approves-25-million-contract-for-toll-system-upgrade/

Turnpike is "modernizing"  its tollbooths and the website.   "Open road tolling"  is not mentioned in the article, so probably not.

[seicer]

I was going to post something about that but I was not sure what it entailed.

- Expanded EZ-Pass readers? I thought this was already at each booth. Perhaps they are talking about updating the technology to allow for an increase in speeds through the booths? If so, the booths are narrow and not really designed for anything over say... 10 MPH. I've been guilty of flying through them at 15 MPH and it's been just fine.
- License plate readers? I thought this was already at each booth.

I am surprised at how many still do not use EZ-Pass on the West Virginia Turnpike. I now commute on it with increasing frequency with work in the SE part of the state, and I would say it's probably a 50/50 ratio on EZ-Pass-only users and cash/EZ-pass users. I wonder why they have not considered going with a pay-by-plate system.

[wriddle082]

I was going to post something about that but I was not sure what it entailed.

- Expanded EZ-Pass readers? I thought this was already at each booth. Perhaps they are talking about updating the technology to allow for an increase in speeds through the booths? If so, the booths are narrow and not really designed for anything over say... 10 MPH. I've been guilty of flying through them at 15 MPH and it's been just fine.
- License plate readers? I thought this was already at each booth.

I am surprised at how many still do not use EZ-Pass on the West Virginia Turnpike. I now commute on it with increasing frequency with work in the SE part of the state, and I would say it's probably a 50/50 ratio on EZ-Pass-only users and cash/EZ-pass users. I wonder why they have not considered going with a pay-by-plate system.

I think the WVTP should always have some sort of cash lanes in place, if for nobody else then for the Canadian snowbirds who have no desire to get an EZPass or to receive a toll bill at home from a toll agency in a different country.  Either way, there is still a large number of out-of-state traffic that uses the turnpike, and they may not all come from EZPass states, and if they do then they may not even live close enough to a toll road to justify getting an EZPass.

[vdeane]

I get the feeling that this upgrade is mostly back-end, but that it could facilitate more visible changes (beyond the new signs they mentioned allowing all lanes to be open by changing to E-ZPass when not staffed) in the future.

[seicer]

I'm confused by that sentence vdeane. All lanes are open to EZ-Pass, and there are usually two lanes open only for EZ-Pass.

[Bitmapped]

I was going to post something about that but I was not sure what it entailed.

- Expanded EZ-Pass readers? I thought this was already at each booth. Perhaps they are talking about updating the technology to allow for an increase in speeds through the booths? If so, the booths are narrow and not really designed for anything over say... 10 MPH. I've been guilty of flying through them at 15 MPH and it's been just fine.
- License plate readers? I thought this was already at each booth.

There were limits on license plate readers in state law. That's part of what sunk DOH's original plan to toll WV 43. I guess they've been lifted?

I am surprised at how many still do not use EZ-Pass on the West Virginia Turnpike. I now commute on it with increasing frequency with work in the SE part of the state, and I would say it's probably a 50/50 ratio on EZ-Pass-only users and cash/EZ-pass users. I wonder why they have not considered going with a pay-by-plate system.

AET won't happen because of job welfare for toll takers. They really need to have some permanent, preferably high-speed, E-ZPass lanes instead of this nonsense every holiday of staffing every lane for cash.

[seicer]

It's not even holiday weekends anymore. It can be a weekend. There was a time - I think it was the first warm weekend of the spring, I sat in traffic at the Ghent toll plaza for 20 minutes just to get to a clear lane. All lanes were open. The northern toll plaza can also be a disaster when beach traffic starts up.

[SP Cook]

- License plate readers.  The only prohibition WV has, AFAIK, is a ban on red light cameras and other non-human random tax schemes, such as speed cams.  Which is a good thing, IMHO. 

The WV 43 deal, from what I have been told, was just politics.  The excuse they used at the time was that it would be cost prohibitive for Turnpike maintenance people to travel all the way across the state to take care of 6 miles of road, nor could a staff be permanently stationed there.  Both of which are true, but left unanswered is why the ordinary local DOH could not take care of the road and bill their time to the Turnpike.  It was just Morgantown's desire to pay no tolls, which makes little sense as there is only one exit in the state, and its tolled in PA.

There are plate readers at every booth, for toll evaders.  There are also plate readers at every state line, which run the plates through a real-time fugitive program.  They catch people fairly regularly. 

- Canada.  If a person is a true "snowbird"  then ONE round trip per year pays the cost of the "frequent user"  EZ Pass.  The turnpike really should be like 90% EZ Pass.   The frequent user deal is too good to pass up.  The only people that should pay cash are people that come through the area less than once per year.

- There are indeed EZ Pass readers in every lane. 

- A big part of the backups, when they occur, is that trucks find it hard to build back up speed due to the grades.  It squeezes back to 2 lanes very quickly, and Truck A is in the slow lane going 10 MPH, and Truck B is in the fast lane going 12 MPH