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STEUBENVILLE -- After identifying the section of cables that led to Thursday's closing of the Market Street Bridge, state highway officials have announced plans for an inspection in January to help determine the span's ultimate fate.
In a press release issued Tuesday by the West Virginia Division of Highways, Stephen Johnson, its state bridge inspection coordinator, said damaged sections in the cable anchorage of the bridge's upstream support cable were found to be deteriorating before the bridge was closed.
Johnson said each support cable is made up of 14 bundles of steel, each comprised of 107 individual strands of wire.
He said the discovery of deteriorating cables within the anchorages at each end of the bridge had prompted quarterly inspections of the span in June 2022.
"At that time, inspectors identified that one of the 14 bundles of wire on the upstream support cable had deteriorated inside the cable anchorage to the point where it was no longer able to do its job," said the WVDOH statement.
"What we've been monitoring at three-month intervals is deterioration of the cable anchorages," said Johnson, who added he and others didn't expect the deterioration to accelerate after the weight limit had been lowered.
"What was concerning was the acceleration of the deterioration," he said.
Johnson said since June 2022, bridge inspectors identified 10 other strands breaking in other bundles on the bridge.
"In the first year of three-month inspections, we lost four strands of wire," he said, adding, "In the last three months we went from four to 10."
Johnson said with the bridge closed, another inspection is planned for January to determine if the cables are continuing to deteriorate even with no weight on the span.
"The results of that inspection and full evaluation of the current inspection results will help determine the future of the bridge," he said.
Elsewhere in the statement, WVDOH officials said while the cables had ample capacity to support the weight of vehicles, deterioration of other parts of the bridge led to its weight limit being reduced from 5 tons to 3 tons in September.
Crews also lowered metal barriers at each end of the span, reducing its height limit from 10 feet to 7.6 feet at that time.
State highway officials noted the Market Street Bridge was built in 1905, with an expected life expectancy of 50 to 100 years.
They added the span underwent about $14 million in renovations in 2010 aimed at extending its life by 10 years.
The renovations included repairs to its towers, Ohio approach and trusses and replacement of a mobile inspection platform.
In November, Mike Paprocki, executive director of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission, reported the West Virginia Department of Transportation had asked the agency to assist it in applying for a federal grant to replace the span at or near its present location.
The Veterans Memorial Bridge and the recently completed Wellsburg-Brilliant Bridge have been designated as detours while the Market Street Bridge is closed.