I just got word from friends here in Hardy County that the McCauley Bridge has collapsed while under construction earlier today during the installation of girders across the river portion of the bridge.

I have no word yet on how much of the bridge has collapsed, what damage has been done, or if any injuries are reported. I am heading out to investigate and take pictures NOW.

Stay tuned, I will have more info ASAP!

Brad

*** UPDATE ***

The good news is that the entire McCauley Bridges have not collapsed... yet. The unofficial word is that appearantly this afternoon crews were hoisting more girders into place over the river when a girder(s) came loose. I do not know if this meant the girders came loose from the crane or came loose from the piers/abutments above. From what I've been told the girders have not completely crashed to the ground, rather they putting enourmous stress on the piers causing crews to fear the piers/abutments could give at any time. SR 55/259 is closed indefinately at that stretch, only open to medical, fire, safety, rescue and police crews.

This is unofficial information since I can not get to the site due to the road closures and they are making sure people are keeping their distance. I will post more as more info becomes available.

You might be wondering... what does this mean to me? Obviously there is damage at that bridge and this could delay completion of the highway for a few months or years. God forbid the entire bridge collapses and that would set construction back another 2 years.

Brad

Any idea if the road may be open by Friday afternoon?

No word on when the road will be open. State police were parked at the Rt 55/259 junction in Wardensville stopping motorists coming in across North Mountain warning them that the road ahead is closed indefinately. Signs were posted at Rt 259/US Rt 50 in Virginia saying road closed to thru traffic and 18wheelers have been prohibited and notified of using alternate routes of Moorefield -> Old Fields -> August -> Rt 50.

If and most like the road won't be open by Friday, you will need to follow this detour of which traffic is being re-routed:

1.) Drive to Wardensville, go past the 7-11.
2.) Make a LEFT on Trout Run Road. Drive approximately 5 miles. You will go through some sharp turns, narrow passes, and very narrow roads. Max speed is around 35mph.
3.) After 5 miles you will reach Thorn Bottom Road/Mill Gap Road on your right. You can't miss this because there is a sign pointing to Trout Pond.
4.) Proceed on Thorn Bottom Road/Mill Gap Road for 10 miles until you reach SR 259 at Lost River.
5.) Make a RIGHT onto SR 259 and drive approximately 10 miles to Baker. From there you can get back on Corridor H to head to Moorefield.


It may be a pain, but this is the only detour available. Please use EXTREME CAUTION when driving that due to narrow roads, sharp turns, no guardrails, and pedestrians in some points. Also trying to drive faster than 35mph is futule due to the condition of the road, turns, and places of not seeing traffic come in the other direction.

Allow upwards of an extra 45 minutes when traveling to go this route if you have too.

Brad, You are one great DCSKI member. Thanks for the advice and warning. I did not realize that Corridor H was open from Wardensille. Where exactly did the collapse take place? Is it over rt. 55 or over Corridor H? Please advise, and again, Thank you!!!
The Colonel

You are very welcome for the information, I feel it's my duty as a Hardy County resident (hopefully I can be an elected official in this county in 3 years) to keep you all informed.

To answer your question, CorridorH from Wardensville to Baker is NOT open. Rather the bridge accident happened at the McCauley Bridges which are still under construction while the highway remains closed. The OLD two-lane route 55/259 is also closed underneath the bridges due to appearant fears the bridges could collapse on cars driving under the construction site.

I plan to get up there when doing customer comptuer work tomorrow and take pictures. I'm waiting to hear back from WV-DOT regarding questions I had so I can write and article for everyone here on DCSki.com

Thanks for the update and directions on the detour. It's really appreciated. I was thru there a couple weeks ago and took a few pics of the bridges - I'll try to post them next week sometime.

Brad:
How late in the year would the crews normally work on Corr H construction? As it is getting cose to winter, is there some risk that this accident will terminate major construction until spring, setting back the project by a year or more?

Brad:

Any idea when that stretch of 55 beyond Wardensville will reopen? 45 extra minutes will rule this route out for most travelers to Snowshoe and Timberline. People will either need to take 50 or go through MD and use 220. I was on 55 two weeks ago and noticed the new bridges going up. Everything looked good and I kind hoped that a new stretch of 4 lane would open before the season, but I guess my hopes have been dashed.

I've been meaning to get out a Sept/Oct CorridorH update but have gotten behind on that. Anyway regardless of any construction accident at McCauley Corridor H will not be open for this winter. In fact the Moorefield Examiner was quoted as saying several weeks ago that due to standard construction delays the highway simply won't be open until August `05 at the earliest for the Wardensville->Baker section. In fact, engineers have not even designed the Wardensville interchange yet at the base of Sandy Ridge and are calling for public meetings and opinions over the next several months before building any bridges for that!

The August `05 deadline may be overly optimistic and early based on the fact that construction work has been halted at the Wardensville interchange, the Lost River Sinks Bridges are just now getting steel rebar in place. No concrete has been poured and now with possible bridge collapse at McCauley this could threaten to delay opening of that segment for at least 1-2 more years. God forbid the concrete piers crash down because that could even push back delays upwards of 3 years.

As for a timeline of the old 2 lane SR 55/259 opening up in that segment so traffic can go through... I don't know. I'm assuming maybe within a few weeks depending on how bad the damage is at the McCauley bridges. Currently school busses along with standard traffic is being routed in this alternate direction. All 18 wheelers are being told to take 220 North out of Moorefield to then take Rt 50 east to get to Winchester before getting on I-81 because the mountain road is impossible to have an 18 wheel truck on.

I'm working on writing up a full length article on my website (www.modemnet.net) along with tons of pictures regarding recent corridor H updates.

Brad

All major construction is complete for dirt moving. 95% of the Wardensville->Baker section is paved with guardrails up. Only the Lost River Sinks Bridges and McCauley Bridges are left to be completed as well as the Wardensville interchange which has not been touched in months. Rather it's sat idly by while appearantly engineers do not have a solid solution on how they want to proceed with building it.

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Brad:
How late in the year would the crews normally work on Corr H construction? As it is getting cose to winter, is there some risk that this accident will terminate major construction until spring, setting back the project by a year or more?

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