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BRILLIANT -- Within a few hours of its departure from the area behind the Wellsburg Smith Oil station where it was built, the main span of the new Ohio River bridge has reached an area just south of its future location.
The 4,100-ton structure was conveyed by four tandem barges that also are carrying about 200 tons of equipment, including six sets of hydraulic jacks, that will be used to lift the span about 80 feet over its future piers.
The operation is slated to occur tonight, possibly between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Adam Matthews, senior operations manager for the Flatiron Corp., contractor for the $131 million project, said it will be the largest tied arch span conveyed in such a way by the international company but not the heaviest structure to be lifted using the jacks.
The heaviest was a 5,000-ton section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge built by Flatiron in 2013.