By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The West Virginia Department of Transportation has issued a statement on the collapse of a steel beam during construction of the Cheat River Bridge part of the new Corridor H. The statement was issued and reported by 12 News reporter Joey Rather. The Parsons Advocate Reached out to WVDOH, Triton and Kekosing for comment on the incident, but had not received comment by press time.
In the statement given to the new outlet, WVDOH said the contractor, Triton Construction, Inc. were investigating the incident. According the the statement, Triton Vice-President Bruce Dunlap said that representatives from the crane manufacturer were en route to the site to assess the cause on Tuesday. “Contractors Triton Construction Inc. are investigating the cause of an incident with a bridge glider that occurred on the Cheat River Bridge project near Parsons on Monday, July 29, 2024,” the statement read. “Triton vice-president Bruce Dunlap said two cranes were lifting a bridge girder at about 10:45 a.m. Monday when an apparent issue with one of the cranes left one end of the girder on the ground.”
The statement also said no one was injured in the incident. There is no immediate cause of the incident available and the site remains restricted, as of the writing of this article. “No one was injured,” the statement read. “Work in the immediate area has been halted pending the results of an investigation, and access to the work site remains restricted.”
The public has been asked to avoid the site by the WVDOH, according the the release. The WVDOH also stated that they will provide updates, as they become available. “The public is asked to avoid the work site,” the statement read. “WVDOT will provide updates as the investigation progresses.”
The area where the incident occurred was where the Cheat River Bridge is being constructed. Once completed, according to the release, the 3,330 foot long span will link a 15 mile long span of Corridor H designed to connect the span of Kerens to Parsons with Parsons to Davis and is designed to be one of the longest bridges in the state upon completion. “The Cheat River Bridge is an approximately $148 million project to build a 3,300-foot span linking the 15-mile stretch of Corridor H between Kerens and Parsons with the sections between Parsons and Davis. Once complete, it will be among the longest bridges in West Virginia,” the statement read.
The incident was caught on camera and posted to social media by Cheryl Bailey and showed two cranes installing a large steel beam. During this installation, the left beam is seen to the side of the beam it was holding, resulting in an audible crash and loud impact. The other crane is seen to retain hold of the beam and no one appears to be injured in the video.
