NEWELL, W.Va. — Inspectors were back at the Wayne Six (Newell) Toll Bridge Thursday morning while testing and evaluation is nearly complete on the Jennings Randolph Bridge.

The toll bridge passed its precautionary inspection before inspectors left.

According to a spokesman for the Newell Bridge and Railway Co., which owns the privately owned Wayne Six Toll Bridge, “(Inspectors) initially thought they could do everything and see everything they needed to see from the bridge deck (last week), so (they) didn’t request (the presence of a) manlift there. They were mistaken, so we got one there after and they (returned).”

Since the Jennings Randolph Bridge was closed by West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOH) officials Dec. 12, this particular toll bridge, which connects across the Ohio River from East Liverpool to Route 2 in between Chester and Newell, has seen a surge in traffic.

Previously more than 10,000 vehicles a day used the Jennings Randolph Bridge to travel U.S. Route 30 between Ohio to either West Virginia or Pennsylvania.

Frank Six, owner of the Newell Bridge and Railway Company, had requested the precautionary inspection although it had passed one in October to determine if its 10-ton weight limit was still appropriate as the bridge now is getting fully loaded with cars on both sides.

He said Thursday, “Everything (the inspectors) saw indicated fine, and nothing has changed since the last time they were here.”

Six said the Wayne Six Toll Bridge is scheduled to receive monthly precautionary inspections until the Jennings Randolph Bridge reopens “just to make sure everything is staying in good shape.”

The increasing traffic especially as the skies turn dark have been somewhat of a challenge, as Six has requested state officials upgrade the lighting to LED and alter the traffic light configurations to allow for safer approach times for drivers.

Earlier Thursday, the West Virginia Department of Highways had closed a second state-owned bridge in the Northern Panhandle to Ohio because an inspection turned up problems.

The Market Street Bridge in Follansbee had been inspected on a three-month cycle for possible issues with its cable anchoring system. In a press release, the DOH had announced that it already had lowered its weight limit from 5 to 3 tons.

Recently, the WVDOH announced that they are continuing to have engineers and inspectors testing and evaluating the span on the Jennings Randolph Bridge, so repairs can be made as quickly as possible and the bridge can be reopened to traffic. They expect to work over the weekend planning further repairs.

The Jennings Randolph Bridge was built in 1977 using T-1 steel, which was commonly used in bridge construction but later discovered that cracks could develop in the welds joining the beams, resulting in similar bridge closures in Louisville, Ky. (2011) and Memphis, Tenn. (2021).

Recently, the federal government required specialized testing on all bridges made with T-1 steel throughout the United States, and one of those such bridges was the Jennings Randolph Bridge, where similar cracks were discovered that could cause “safety issues in the future.”

The WVDOH shut the bridge down to repair the cracks.

The press release also revealed, “Additional cracking may be present inside some of the steel box beams on the Jennings Randolph Bridge. WVDOH bridge crews are making access holes inside the box beams to allow inspectors inside the bridge to confirm whether or not more cracks are present. If more cracks are found, additional repairs will be needed.”

“This shows that our bridge inspection program works,” said WVDOH State Bridge Engineer Tracy Brown, P.E. “Our entire national bridge inspection program is based on what happened 56 years ago today (when 46 people were killed due to a holiday bridge collapse of the state’s Silver Bridge.

“It’s because of our aggressive bridge safety inspections that we can proactively address deficiencies like those we found on the Jennings Randolph Bridge instead of reacting to a serious safety issue.”