Blennerhassett Island Bridge - The Corridor is Complete

At $119.9 million, the bridge is the largest single highway construction contract in West Virginia history.  It will be the longest bridge... of its type (an arch-type continuous girder bridge) in the United States.

When the new Blennerhassett Island Bridge is completed, motorists won't know it but, as they drive from Parkersburg, West Virginia to Belpre, Ohio, they'll be riding across Shelly Company property.  What's more, they'll be riding on a bridge that three Shelly Company divisions - Smith Concrete, Shelly Materials Willow Island Plant, and Price Inland Terminal - helped to construct.

The bridge will complete the four-lane upgrade of U.S. 50, the final link in the 300-mile Corridor D of the Appalachian Development Highway System.  "I live in Parkersburg and they've been talking about this for my whole life." commented Ross Snyder, vice president of sales for Smith Concrete.  "Completion is crucial to opening this area to business."

At $119.9 million, the bridge is the largest single highway construction contract in West Virginia history.  It will be the longest bridge in West Virginia and the longest bridge of its type (an arch-type continuous girder bridge) in the United States.

"Because of The Shelly Company's position as a supplier of asphalt, aggregate and concrete, we had a lot to offer on the whole project," noted Snyder.  "What's more, we're doing it right on our own property." he added.

The piers on the Ohio side are on land that was owned by Price Inland Terminal but taken over by eminent domain for this project.  All aggregate material comes from the Shelly Materials Willow Island plant; Smith Concrete is supplying much of the concrete for the project; and Price Inland Terminal is doing all of the barge unloading of aggregates and other building materials, as well as providing lay-down areas for the materials and mooring space for work barges.

Work on the Blennerhassett Island Bridge began in June and construction is expected to take about three years.  Walsh Construction of Chicago, Illinois is the prime contractor.  "Because of the bridge's location - right in our backyard - our people have taken possession of the job." Snyder said.  "Everyone is really paying close attention to it."

"Completion is crucial to opening this area to business."

Ross Snyder

VP Sales, Smith Concrete

Smith Concrete Executes Flawlessly on AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER PROJECT

Smith Concrete did it again! For the second time in less than 10 months, Smith Concrete supplied the concrete for a hugely successful stack foundation pour, this time at American Electric Power Company’s Muskingum River Plant in Waterford, Ohio.   On September 15th and 16th, Smith delivered concrete out of four batch plants to service the production requirements of Bowen Engineering, the general contractor.  Bowen was seeking production of more than 350 yards per hour and Smith was able to exceed that, getting the job completed safely and quickly.   “Preparation was the key to our success,” said Mike Murphy, vice president and general manager of Smith Concrete.  “The job was awarded in early April and we had a target date of mid June to get our portable plant set up.  There were several delays in the project as the pour was originally scheduled for the last week of July.  The Tuesday prior to the pour we had a company meeting and all the employees (along with the contractor and the owner's safety supervisor) were told specifically what each would do, and safety during the entire procedure was emphasized.”   Planning and executing this pour was greatly helped by the fact the company had handled an equally big pour in December 2005.  The difference was that the December pour stretched over a longer period (5,730 yards in 35 hours), while this pour was concentrated in a 16-hour period, requiring more equipment and more effort on the part of employees to meet the timetable.  “The reason we were so successful is the preparation put into the project by Dick Wilson, operations manager, and Ross Snyder, sales and quality manager,” Murphy said.  Smith Concrete received a letter of thanks/congratulations from the contractor and American Electric Power for the successful job.   “The success of this pour was the result of extensive pre-planning and team collaboration.  It should be specifically noted that both Bowen Engineering and Smith Concrete did an excellent job of pre-planning and execution to make this mass concrete pour successful.   I would strongly recommend that these two contractors be considered for future work with American Electric Power Company,” wrote Wayne Cretsinger, American Electric Power site construction manager.

"The success of this pour was the result of extensive preplanning and team collaboration."

Wayne Cretsinger

Site Construction Manager

American Electric Power

 

MASS POUR BY THE NUMBERS

88 Shelly employees

Four Smith Concrete plants

5,351 yards of 4,000-psi concrete delivered; batched an average of 364 yards per hour

63 mixer trucks (including 6 Buckeye Ready-Mix trucks)

4,700 tons of Shelly #467 limestone

3,600 tons of Shelly sand

 

Belpre plant - 1,310 yards (avg. 89 yards per hour)

BT plant - 1,094 yards (avg. 78 yards per hour)

Marietta - 1,097 yards (avg. 81 yards per hour)

Waterford - 1,850 yards (avg. 116 yards per hour)

1,150 tons of LaFarge cement

375 tons of Class F fly ash

Smith Concrete can service big projects or small with a large fleet of trucks available from our fixed production plants or one of our portable batch plants.

The photos below illustrate some of our projects.  Click on any photo for a larger version.

Portable Batch Plant - Zanesville, OH

Dollar General Distribution Center (1.2 million square feet)

Contractor - Lithko Contracting, Inc.

Ritchie County Dam Project - Harrisville, WV

Contractor - Barnard Construction

Putnam Street Bridge (ODOT 241-98) - Marietta, OH

Contractor - Kokosing Construction

Uptown Revitalization - Athens, OH

Contractor - Ohio - West Virginia Excavating

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