Dubbed the “million dollar bridge” by town residents, referring to the cost of building the structure in 1921, the Jefferson Street Bridge in Fairmount, WV, is a three-span reinforced concrete arch bridge that crosses the Monongahela River. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the bridge was originally designed by The Steel Engineering Company of New York and was dedicated to the town of Fairmont on May 20, 1921. The John F. Casey Company of Pittsburgh completed the original construction.
Having been used by Fairmont residents for more than 70 years, the Jefferson Street Bridge needed restoration work to ensure the continued safety of the structure. The goal of the restoration project was to take down 80% of the structure with only the original arches remaining intact, reconstruct the bridge with new materials, and retain the same appearance as the original 1921 design.
In 1998, the Mosites Construction Company of Pittsburgh began the two-year restoration project. Working with architectural firm Howard Needles Tammen & Bergendoff (HNTB) of Alexandria, VA; engineering firm Gannett-Fleming of Pittsburgh; and RCS Consulting of Ripley, WV, Mosites Construction Company had to overcome numerous challenges related to the design and location of the bridge. Before any demolition could be done, precautions were taken to protect a communi-cations fiber optic cable that ran under the south sidewalk of the bridge. Also, to preserve the six original arches, special engineering methods were employed to keep the demolition of other areas of the bridge from harming the arches. To duplicate the original appearance of the structure parapet and light poles, special architectural precast forms were designed.
To help restore the piers and arches, Mosites Construction Company turned to The QUIKRETE® Companies for its high-quality commercial-grade products. Using 6400 m2 (69,000 ft2) of 37.5 mm (1.5 in) thick pneumatically applied QUIKRETE® Gunite MS®, Mosites successfully restored all four sides of the existing arches.