Bridging West Virginia’s Future

WVDOT uses a data-driven approach to transform its bridge infrastructure and connect communities

By Jimmy Wriston, PE, Secretary of Transportation and Commissioner of Highways, and Alanna Keller, PE, Deputy Secretary of Transportation and Deputy Commissioner of Highways | West Virginia Department of Transportation

The West Virginia Department of Transportation takes great pride in being a leader in bridge construction and renewal. Bridges are critical connection points in our state, allowing travelers to pass over and through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.

We have 6,636 DOT-owned bridges and are actively working to modernize these assets.

We are taking a proactive approach and leveraging the state’s first comprehensive, 10-year, bridge improvement program to bring more than 2,500 bridges in 55 counties into good repair. By 2031, we aim to reduce the percentage of poor-condition bridges from 14% to 3%, with the goal of eliminating all poor-condition bridges in our system.

This goal is within reach with the help of recent federal and state investments. We have rehabilitated, improved or replaced:

• 26 I-70 bridges in Wheeling, West Virginia
• A major I-64 bridge in Putnam County
• 17 covered bridges across the state
• 88 off-system municipal bridges

We are committed to pioneering advancements in bridge renewal. From data-driven planning to efficient construction, we employ a range of essential strategies and innovative tools that have significantly propelled us toward achieving our modernization goals.

Adopting a data-driven management system

In 2019, WVDOT made a strategic decision to institute a data-driven approach to managing and modernizing our bridge inventory. We invested heavily in technology to support our new strategy, created a performance management division and embedded a performance management team in every district.

During inspections, the division collects data on every bridge’s condition and enters its findings into the bridge management system. The system helps us rate each bridge as poor, fair or good, based on the condition of the bridge deck, superstructure and substructure.

The bridges with the most square footage in poor condition receive priority, whether they are major interstate bridges or a 100-foot-long span across a rural creek.

Using square footage as a metric allows us to prioritize our workload and increase transportation equity by distributing the funding and improvements to benefit the greatest number of users — urban and rural. Once we know the bridge and its specific needs, we can run scenarios to help us allocate resources where they are needed most and will have the greatest impact. Often, we find the bridge needs only to be rehabbed or retrofitted rather than completely replaced. That’s one of the advantages of data-driven decision-making. Knowing we can bring a poor-condition bridge into a state of good repair through rehabilitation rather than replacement extends the bridge’s life, helps us maximize our funding and advances us toward our goal.

Engaging the workforce

Our technology-based, data-driven approach necessitated mastering new technologies and adopting innovative methods for managing our bridge inventory.

To support this transition, our communications and human resources teams launched a comprehensive employee education campaign. This initiative included key messages that were consistently communicated, explaining the rationale behind the operational changes, detailing the planned actions and highlighting how the new data-driven strategies would enhance efficiency. We provided extensive workforce training, closely monitored performance and made necessary adjustments along the way.

The investment of time and resources has proven invaluable, as evidenced by the successful completion of each bridge enhancement.

Increasing process efficiencies

Modernizing a massive bridge inventory in 10 years requires increasing efficiencies in each phase of the project’s life cycle. To help streamline the environmental process, WVDOT has dedicated staff positions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Having a regulatory agency staff member solely focused on our bridge projects has been a game-changer in navigating the regulations and securing timely project execution. We submit our information one time to one person at one agency, and that person assigned to our projects manages the entire process on our behalf. We receive all communication, approvals and permits through them.

This point of contact for all regulatory matters increases efficiencies and allows us to focus on and advance other projects in the 10-year program. It’s another reason we’ve been able to move more than a quarter of our poor-condition bridges into a state of good repair in six years.

Embracing innovative construction and materials

In addition to planning efficiencies, WVDOT is at the forefront of adopting innovative construction methods and materials to maintain the momentum of our 10-year program. For example, when we are replacing a bridge deck on the West Virginia Turnpike, rather than creating a costly detour or restricting the flow and impacting the travel times of paying customers, we use prefabricated panels and post-tensioning to deliver the repairs with minimal traffic disruption.

We also partnered with West Virginia University and Marshall University to develop a press-brake-formed short-span steel tub girder bridge. The new modular bridge can be installed in less time compared to traditional bridge construction, lasts longer and requires minimal maintenance over the span’s life. Fourteen Mile Bridge in Lincoln County was the first bridge in West Virginia to use this innovative technology in 2019. A second press-brake-formed steel tub girder bridge was constructed on U.S. 250 near Mannington, West Virginia, in 2020.

Using new materials also helped maintain momentum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues severely disrupted our ability to access Type III cement mix. To ensure our projects have the materials they need when they need them, we modified our concrete specifications and put in quality control measures for the more readily available Type I cement. The modification paves the way for our DOT to use and benefit from new materials, such as ultra high-performance concrete, which is stronger and more durable than traditional concrete for better overall performance.

Other technologies that have helped create greater efficiencies and safety include using drones for bridge inspections and specially treated cinders with noncorrosive deicing properties on selected bridges.

We are rolling

Moving 40% of our massive bridge inventory into a state of good repair in 10 years requires sound strategy and execution. Our transportation system demands it, our constituents expect it and our governor has mandated it. Using data-driven decision-making to optimize our funding, expand our workforce, create an efficient process and adopt new construction methods and materials are transforming our state’s bridges. These efforts have improved our state’s mobility, boosted the economy and set a new standard for bridge modernization across the country.